Gene Dramatically Raises Risk Of Ovarian Cancer.

Gene Dramatically Raises Risk Of Ovarian Cancer.

DNA repair is important for the prevention of cancer.  Recently, a gene that makes a DNA repair protein, RAD51D, was shown to be important in the prevention of ovarian cancer. A comparison of people from families with a history breast/ovarian cancer with those without a history showed that women with a mutation in RAD51D were more than 6 times as likely to develop ovarian cancer.  The results are beng pursued to develop a test for ovarian cancer and to help in determining treatments for ovarian cancer patients.