Researchers in the UK have called for patient ethnicity to factor in the treatment of breast cancer.

Growing evidence suggests that certain treatments may benefit breast cancer patients from one ethnic group more than others, due to genetic variations.

According to researchers from Imperial College London, the drug commonly used to treat patients with HER-2 positive cancer reacts better in people with a particular genotype.

One of the report's authors, Dr Carlo Palmieri from the Division of Surgery, Oncology, Reproductive Biology and Anaesthetics, explained: "Evidence is now emerging that shows how your genes might influence whether or not a particular treatment can help you.

"There are small genetic differences between people from different ethnic backgrounds and it is really important that we find out whether these genetic differences mean that certain drugs perform well in people from certain ethnic groups but not in others."

Breast cancer predominately affects women in the developed world and studies tend to focus on patients from white populations in Europe, North America and Australasia.

These findings come at a time when physicians are beginning to recognise an increasing number of Asian patients being diagnosed with the disease.

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