According to a research in cancer, women with an identical twin who develop breast cancer have three times the average risk of also developing the disease. Professor Julian Peto, a scientist for Cancer Research UK, has been analyzing data from US female twins. These were identical and non-identical twins where one twin already had breast cancer. The twins without cancer were then followed up for several years to see who developed the disease.
One third of the identical twins were destined to get breast cancer, compared to just one woman in nine among the general population. In simple words, sharing your genes with an affected twin sister trebles your risk of breast cancer above the norm. This suggests that genetics plays a far bigger role in breast cancer than previously believed.The study means that a woman with an identical twin who develops breast cancer will benefit from closer monitoring to address her enhanced risk. It also focuses future research efforts onto looking for the genes underlying breast cancer . Hence a combination of genes is more likely to be responsible for many diseases.
