Faulty gene boosts male breast cancer risk

Men with a faulty gene have a one in 15 chance of developing breast cancer by the time they reach 70, according to new research.

Breast cancer in men is rare compared with breast cancer in women. Each year around 300 men and 45,000 women are diagnosed with the disease.

It's already known that women who carry a faulty BRCA2 gene have a significantly higher risk of breast cancer, often at a young age.

However, few studies have looked at how mutations in the BRAC2 gene affects a man's risk of developing the disease.

Researchers from St. Mary's Hospital in Manchester analysed data from 321 families wth the faulty BRCA2 gene living in Manchester and Birmingham.

Twenty men had developed breast cancer between the ages of 29 and 79.

Out of these, 16 (2%) first degree and eight second degree relatives developed the disease

On the basis of these figures, the researchers calculated that the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer in men with a faulty BRAC2 gene was one in 15 (7.1%) by the age of 70 and one in 12 (8.4%) by the age of 80.

This compares with an overall risk of developing breast cancer of 1 in 1000 for men without the faulty gene.

Men in families which carry the faulty gene should be made aware of the symptoms of the disease, said the researchers. “These risks are sufficient to increase awareness of breast cancer among men in BRCA2 families and to stress the importance of early presentation with breast symptoms,” they concluded.

The study findings are published in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

This article was published on Tue 6 July 2010