A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded there is another gene that can greatly raise the risk for breast cancer.
The PALB2 gene is probably the most dangerous in terms of breast cancer after the BRCA genes, according to the study's authors, with mutations in the gene making breast cancer up to nine times more likely to develop.
The PALB2 gene works with BRCA2 as a tumor suppressor, so when it is mutated, cancer can flourish.
The faulty gene seems to give a woman a 14 percent chance of breast cancer by age 50 and 35 percent by age 70, with an even greater risk if she has two or more close relatives with the disease. Men with a faulty PALB2 gene also have a risk for breast cancer that is eight times greater than men in the general population. Read the full details here:
Study Ties New Gene to Major Breast Cancer Risk
This article is a must read for anyone who has a family history of breast cancer.
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