A recent study conducted at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute may shed light on genetic risk factors for developing cancers.

The newly published results, from a team of scientists featuring Medical School instructor Brian M. Wolpin and associate professor Charles S. Fuchs, identifies a link between pancreatic cancer and the ‘ABO gene’ that defines blood type.

Published on Mar. 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the study aimed to confirm data in decades-old literature that examined the relationship between blood type and a variety of cancers.

“[The prior studies] were limited retrospective case studies leading many investigators to conclude that blood type was a risk factor,” Fuchs said. “Although it remained in the knowledge base of medicine, I don’t think people necessarily believed it.”

Human blood groups—O, A, AB, and B—are defined by specific proteins expressed on the surface of red blood cells. Fuchs and his team narrowed in on pancreatic cancer as a means to reevaluate the connection between these blood types and cancerous tumors.

Using O blood as a basis for comparison, the researchers found successively higher risks of pancreatic cancer in A, AB, and B blood types.

The link may have to do with differences in the way specific blood types mount inflammatory responses, which can have a hand in the formation of cancers, Fuchs said.

Because blood type is genetically pre-determined, the finding suggests that the formation of cancer may hinge on more than one’s habits.

The possibility of genetic risk factors for pancreatic cancers has motivated the scientists to pursue future studies related to specific genes.

“We would like to expand the [test subjects] into a much larger number and confirm that these results are really true,” Wolpin said. “If we could do that then we could delve into whether it is the exact ABO gene or a nearby gene.”

Future studies may indicate the exact predisposing genetic risk factor for pancreatic cancer, Wolpin said.

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