
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 3, 1995                   TAG: 9504050029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

GENE'S LINK TO TUMORS BROADENS

Scientists have found the first direct evidence that a gene causing hereditary breast and ovarian cancer also plays a role in far more common non-inherited tumors.

The hereditary cases appear in women who inherit a flawed version of the gene, which fails to suppress the development of cancer as the normal gene does. Some 10 percent or less of breast and ovarian tumors are hereditary.

Now, for the first time, scientists have found flawed versions of the gene in non-hereditary ovarian tumors. The genes were normal when inherited but became flawed within the patients' bodies.

In addition, other scientists have found that the gene is underactive in non-inherited breast cancers, suggesting it may play a role in those tumors even if it is not flawed.

About 182,000 cases of breast cancer and 26,600 cases of ovarian cancer are expected to be diagnosed in American women this year.

The gene, BRCA1, causes about half of inherited breast cancers. It made headlines last year when it was finally found after a long search.

The finding of flawed BRCA1 genes in non-inherited ovarian tumors is reported by two groups in the April issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

Results suggest that flaws in the BRCA1 gene may be involved in at least 10 percent of non-inherited ovarian cancers, said Dr. Sofia Merajver of the University of Michigan Medical School, lead author of one report.

Some regions of the gene have not yet been thoroughly examined, and they may produce more examples of flaws in non-inherited cancer, she said.

by CNB