A genetic test could help predict breast cancer many years before the disease is diagnosed, experts hope.
Ultimately the findings, in the journal Cancer Research, could lead to a simple blood test to screen women, they say.
The test looks for how genes are altered by environmental factors like alcohol and hormones - a process known as epigenetics.
One in five women is thought to have such a genetic "switch" that doubles breast cancer risk.
By piecing together how this happens, we can look at ways of preventing the disease and detecting it earlier to give people the best possible chance of survival”
The scientists from Imperial College London analysed blood samples from 1,380 women of various ages, 640 of whom went on to develop breast cancer.
And they found a strong link between breast cancer risk and molecular modification of a single gene called ATM, which is found on white blood cells.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17905601
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