First Risk Genes Found for Bone Marrow Cancer Sunday 27 November
2011 A team of scientists led by The Institute of Cancer
Research (ICR) has shown for the first time that a person’s
genes influences their risk of developing multiple myeloma,
according to a paper publishing today in Nature Genetics.
Relatives of multiple myeloma patients were known to have a two-
to fourfold increased risk of suffering the disease themselves,
but until now scientists had not identified any genes
responsible. Using a technique called a genome wide association
study, the scientists scanned the DNA of 1,675 patients with
multiple myeloma and compared them to around 5,900 healthy
controls. They found two regions of the genome* that were more
common in people with multiple myeloma and were therefore linked
to a higher chance of developing the disease. While the
additional risk from carrying any of the genes is modest –
around a 30 per cent increased risk – the genes are common in
the population. The authors therefore estimate the g