GENES that define the risk of getting cancer do not affect all races the same way, researchers from the University of Edinburgh have discovered.
It is the first time such differences have been found and could eventually lead to tests to pinpoint the disease even earlier and prevent its development.
Scientists at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the university identified
three new genetic markers – specific differences in the DNA code that makes up every living organism.
Two of the markers were the same in both Japanese and Caucasian populations from the UK, Germany, Spain, Israel and Canada. But one marker for colon cancer was only in Caucasian samples, who were 10 per cent more likely to develop that type of bowel cancer.
The report, published in the journal Nature Genetics, follows 15 years of research.
Professor Malcolm Dunlop, lead author of the study, said: "The lifetime risk is one in 20 that you will get bowel cancer. This is the first time that a race-specific effect has been found for a genetic marker. It's an important step forward in our knowledge of the causes of bowel cancer, bringing us ever closer to a genetic test for those at high risk of the disease.
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The researchers, partially funded by Cancer Research UK, looked at the complete genetic make-up of more than 33,000 people in seven countries.
In a parallel study, also published in Nature Genetics, British scientists led by Professor Richard Houlston, from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, found two new gene variants that increase the risk of bowel cancer.
Cancer Research UK's director of cancer information, Dr Lesley Walker, said: "Our understanding of the causes of bowel cancer is quickly increasing. We can now begin to explain some of the difference in rates of the disease between populations through specific genes.
"This international collaboration has helped us appreciate the complexity of the genetics behind bowel cancer.
"This collaboration will continue to bring knowledge that will eventually allow us to test people with a family history of the disease, catching cancer earlier in those who are at the highest risk or preventing it al- together."
Every year in the UK, about 36,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer. It is the third most common cancer after breast and lung, and the disease causes almost 16,100 deaths in the UK every year.
About two-thirds of cases are in the large bowel (colon) and the remaining third are in the rectum.
The occurrence of bowel cancer is strongly related to age, with over 80 per cent of cases arising in people who are 60 or older.
ONE SAUSAGE A DAY RISKEATING just one sausage or around three rashers of bacon a day can increase the risk of developing bowel cancer by a fifth, an expert has warned.
Professor Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser for the charity World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), said more needed to be done to get across the message that people who regularly eat processed meat – that which has been salted, smoked or cured – are putting their health at risk.
Prof Wiseman said:
"The evidence is that whether you are talking about bacon, ham or pastrami, the safest amount to eat is none at all."
The full article contains 557 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
