New research from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center provides insight into how genetic variants convey breast cancer susceptibility by altering the transcription factor proteins that convert DNA strands into RNA.
The research, published recently in Nature Communications, identified 22 breast cancer risk-associated transcription factors and 52 previously unreported breast cancer susceptibility genes. The investigators analyzed the interactions of the protein coding genes FOXA1, ESR1 and E2F1, which are known master regulators of gene expression that affect breast cancer risk.