Jewish people offered gene test for cancer risk

Tens of thousands of people with Jewish ancestry will be offered genetic tests to find out if they have an increased risk of developing some cancers. Women who have faulty BRCA genes have been found to have up to a 72% chance of developing breast cancer and 44% chance of developing ovarian cancer, compared with 11.5% and 1.5% respectively for the general population. People who are found to have defective BRCA genes, known as being BRCA positive, will be given early access to cancer detection services such as mammograms or MRI scans. During a pilot phase of the programme, 5,000 people of with Jewish ancestry came forward for testing, 80 of whom were found to have defective BRCA genes. Cancer Research UK estimates 5-10% of all diagnosed cancers are linked to an inherited faulty gene, but that figure is not specific to BRCA genes.

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