RESEARCHERS in theus areexcited abouta recent breakthrough which links the BRCA-1 gene to most cases of breast cancer. The finding provides clin- ching evidence that establishes a connection between abnormalities in the BRCA- I and the occurence of breast cancer.

just last year the scenario was quite different because scientists till then were only sure of the fact that women who inherited a mutated form of the gene had about 90 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and about 60 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer. But women with a family history of breast cancer constitute just 5 per cent of all women with the disease, so the finding did not create major ripples.

Now Wen-Hwa Lee and his team at the University of Texas in San Antonio report abnormalities in the BRCA-1 gene even in women with breast cancer with no family history of the disease.