Dad Cancer Shock

Jun 21, 04:15 PM

Current Headlines: By IAN MARKHAM-SMITH

IT is dads who pass on the gene that can give their daughters breast cancer, shock new findings have revealed.

American scientists have discovered that a potentially-deadly marker can lurk hidden in a woman's family tree when she has few female relatives.

The study's co-author Dr Jeffrey Weitzel of City of Hope Cancer Centre in Duarte, California, thinks half of genetic breast cancers are inherited from a woman's father, not her mother.

He said: "Interestingly, it's about dad."

The study looked at 306 women diagnosed with the disease. None of the patients had a family history of breast cancer.

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