Breast cancer gene in men causes tumors for 1 in 12 carriers

A genetic mutation linked to breast cancer in women also predisposes men to the disease, with 1 in 12 male carriers developing tumors by age 80, researchers said.

Scientists from Manchester and Birmingham, England, tracked 321 families with faulty BRCA2 genes to pinpoint the risk for men who have the mutation. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Genetics, found 7.1 percent of men developed the disease by age 70. The risk rose to almost 9 percent in the following decade, the study found.

While 60 percent of women with mutations in a breast cancer gene develop malignancies, the risk in men isn't as well known, said researchers led by Gareth Evans from the Department of Genetic Medicine at Manchester Academic Health Science Centre and St. Mary's Hospital. The results of the study, the largest ever conducted in BRCA2-affected families, confirms the lifetime risk is as great as 9 percent, they said.

"These risks are sufficient to increase awareness of breast cancer among men in BRCA2 families and to stress the importance of early presentation with breast symptoms," the researchers said.

Breast cancer is the most common tumor in women, affecting 12 percent over the course of a lifetime, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. More than 200,000 women were diagnosed with the disease last year in the U.S., compared with less than 2,000 men, according to the American Cancer Society. About 40,000 women and 390 men died from the disease.