Scientists isolate gene that triggers biggest breast tumours

London, Dec 10 (UNI) In a major breakthrough, scientists have isolated the gene which causes the most aggressive types of breast cancer tumours.

American experts have shown that a faulty BRCA1 gene triggers cancer by disabling another vital gene PTEN, which is one of the body's tumour suppressor genes as it ensures cells do not grow uncontrollably.

The breakthrough could offer hope to millions of women by paving the way for better treatments for basal-like breast cancer tumours, which are the most dangerous and hardest to treat forms of the disease.

''These findings are exciting because ever since the link was established between BRCA1 and breast cancer more than ten years ago, we have been frustrated by our lack of understanding about how mutations in this gene cause breast cancer,'' the Daily Mail quoted Dr Ramon Parsons, one of the paper's authors, as saying.

He added there is reasonably good hope that this approach will improve therapy for patients.

UNI