By IANS
London : Scientists have identified two more genes that could triple the risk of bowel cancer – the second commonest cancer in western countries.
This discovery is the latest to emerge from an effort by Britain’s Institute of Cancer Research to search the entire human genome for mutations linked to cancer.
Scientists at the institute had earlier found the first section of the human genome linked to bowel cancer.
They had found a part of the genome responsible for causing Hereditary Mixed Polyposis Syndrome (HMPS) – a condition that significantly increases bowel cancer risk in Jews of Ashkenazi descent who are European but of non-Spanish origin.
Now the same researchers in the latest study, which appears in the journal Nature Genetics, found two more mutations which could triple the risk.
The researchers found that the HMPS region also had the two faults, which are present in many more cases of bowel cancer in the general population, reported the online edition of BBC News.
Ian Tomlinson, joint lead researcher, said he was “delighted” at the discovery.
“This could help us understand how different variants of the same gene affect risk and how genes interact to increase overall risk.”
In the past, scientists had focussed on high-risk genes – those which caused a particular cancer in many generations of the same family, often to devastating effect.
“Most of those high risk genes have now been discovered,” said Lesley Walker of the institute.
Bowel cancer develops from cells that normally form the inner lining of the colon and rectum.
One in every 50 people will develop bowel cancer during their lives. Most bowel cancers develop in people over 60.