Sir, – I greatly enjoyed Aoife McLysaght's rightful championing of Mary Claire King's search for the holy grail in breast cancer genetics with her seminal work on the location of the first breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 ("Here's to the geneticist who helped map the first breast cancer gene", September 25th). Breast cancer genetics also has a strong Irish connection, with the subsequent location of a second breast cancer gene (BRCA2) due in no small part to the work of Prof Peter Daly and Dr Ross McManus at St James's Hospital. A key component of this work was a large extended Irish family with inherited breast cancer and their willingness to participate in this pioneering research.
This generosity of spirit of patients to allow their samples and associated clinical information to be used in research highlights their unsung role as key partners in research efforts to understand diseases such as cancer and design new treatments. In many cases, the participation of patients in these research studies will not have any direct impact on their own disease but will contribute to the development of new diagnostics or therapies for future generations, once more emphasising their altruistic gift which is vital to our continuing research effort. On behalf of the research community, I salute these unsung heroes. – Yours, etc,
Prof MARK LAWLER,
Kilmainham, Dublin 8.