A medical team from the Institute of Cancer Research has investigated breast cancer risks in women that carry damaged ATM genes. The experts reached the conclusion that the faulty gene doubles the risk of developing breast cancer in women by the time they will be in their 70's. If usually a woman in 12 is exposed to breast cancer risks, carrying a damaged ATM gene leads to increasing risks up to a woman in 6.

ATM gene is a DNA repair-gene; therefore women carrying such a faulty gene cannot have their DNA repaired in an appropriate manner. Damaged DNA cells present the risk of multiplying uncontrollably and turn into cancer cells. The genetic fault related to ATM affects from 0,5% to 1% of the US population.

However, this would not be the only cause that increases breast cancer development. Women that come from families with a history in breast cancer are more exposed of getting the troubling disease. Taking into account the results of the study carried out on ATM genes, a woman with family history in breast cancer will require regular screening on the ATM gene from now on. If the woman is found to also carry a faulty gene, her risks of getting breast cancer highly increase. Therefore, she can consider going through a mastectomy.

During the research, the medical team compared 433 cases of women that already suffer from breast cancer with 521 cases of healthy women. The outcome was that 12 of the breast cancer patients showed faulty ATM genes and only 2 of the healthy women proved to carry the damaged gene. This leads to a link between breast cancer and faulty ATM gene that will improve means of tracking down breast cancer suspects in the future.

"Our study provides strong evidence for the first time that damaged ATM genes definitely have a moderate effect on breast cancer risk in a small number of women. Women who carry these genetic faults could benefit from targeted screening and new treatments in the future, but we need to learn much more about ATM before this information will feed into clinical practice," stated the lead researcher Nazneen Rahman.