In The Lancet Oncology, Zhang and colleagues1 adeptly synthesise a vast body of data and literature pertaining to susceptibility genes for breast cancer. BRCA1 was discovered in 1994 and BRCA2 in 1995; since these early days, large international collaborations have been formed to move research forward, resulting in discovery of CHEK2 in 2002.2 This burgeoning collaborative spirit was a response to the necessity of studying larger and larger populations to detect smaller and smaller risks. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS)-which report odds ratios (ORs) of around 1-2-typically have 100 or more authors (by contrast, the OR associated with a 8RCA1 or BRCA2 mutation is ten or higher and the OR with a CHEK2 variant is 2-3).
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