One in 100 people who have grandparents from Orkney have a gene variant that causes a higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer, a study has found. Published in the European Journal of Human Genetics, leading geneticists from the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh have linked a variant in the gene BRCA1 to a historic origin in Westray, Orkney. Currently in Scotland the test is available to those who know of a direct family connection to the gene or have a history of ovarian or breast cancer in their family. Now planning is underway for a small pilot trial
Orkney cancer gene link testing as seen on The Hippocratic Post.