Main cause of breast cancer discovered
Healthcare experts in the US have discovered the cause of the most common form of breast cancer.
A joint study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that a defective gene found in the body may be combating other tumour suppressing genes.
Healthcare experts at the facility say that the findings will help them identify and test new treatments for luminal-type tumours, which cause around 80 percent of all breast cancers.
Dr Yue Xiong, who led the study, says the mechanism for the growth is different from other forms of the disease, which may interest breast cancer insurance customers.
"Understanding this mechanism and having a good mouse model allows us to specifically test how treatments work against these tumours, which may then benefit human patients," he states.
In a related breakthrough, scientists at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York recently found three genes which are important in allowing breast cancer to spread to the brain, which may lead to more effective healthcare treatment being developed. 
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