London – Study: Cancer-Fighting Gene in Ashkenazi Jewish Women

London – Jewish women of Eastern European descent who have ovarian cancer and carry certain genetic changes live longer than those without the mutations, according to a new study.

Ashkenazi Jewish women who had changes in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes were 28 percent less likely to die from the disease over a follow-up period of up to nine years.

"It's possible that patients with these mutations respond better to chemotherapy," said Siegal Sadetzki of the Chaim Sheba Medical Center, who worked on the study. [Reuters]