Gene discovery to shed light on pancreatic cancer risk

New genetic research has highlighted a specific mutation that could play a key role in increasing the hereditary risk of pancreatic cancer.

Research spearheaded by Dr Alison Klein – associate professor of oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University – has found that abnormalities of the ATM gene are more prevalent in pancreatic cancer patients.

Next-generation sequencing techniques including whole genome and whole exome analyses were used to achieve this breakthrough, which could lead to the development of improved screening methods for the disease.

Dr Klein said: "There was significant reason to believe this clustering was due to genetics, but we had not, to this point, been able to find the causative genes."

Pancreatic cancer, the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths, is often screened via endoscopy, which is a relatively unproven method.

The disease is difficult to treat, with around 7,800 new cases identified in the UK annually.