An international effort, in which over 100 instutitions participated, has "uncovered dozens of signposts in DNA that can help reveal further a person's risk for breast, ovarian or prostate cancer," the Associated Press reports. The basis for these discoveries was the genetic testing of over 200,000 people.

Scientists hope that these discoveries will result in genetic tests that help identify people who most need to be tested for breast, ovarian or prostate cancer, and could eventially lead to new cancer treatments. Scientists are also using these discoveries as a step in the process of figuring out how cancers develop.

In the meantime, the genetic markers can help identify people more at risk for breast, ovarian or prostate cancer:

 

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of cancer research here.

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