The 180 breast cancer genes: One in five women has a variant that raises her risk of the condition by a third, reveals largest study of its kind

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Scientists say one in five women are in greater danger of getting breast cancer because of faults in their genes.

Women already know if their mother, daughter or sister has breast cancer, they are at higher risk.

But the largest genetic study ever done for breast cancer has now found the 179 separate mutations which are passed on through families.

For one in five women, the errors written into their genes mean they have almost a third higher chance of getting breast cancer. An unlucky one per cent have three times the risk of the other 99 per cent of the population.

However the bad news could be used to save lives, as a simple blood test could identify these women and doctors are already considering offering them breast screening at a younger age.

An international team of hundreds of scientists, led by Cambridge University, analysed DNA from 275,000 women. Their results almost double the number of genetic variants now known by scientists to cause breast cancer.

45c26d7bc1f3181cc4792d14673025f2 The 180 breast cancer genes: One in five women has a variant that raises her risk of the condition by a third, reveals largest study of its kind

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