BRCA1 and BRCA2 are high risk genes which cause breast cancer and are already known to significantly increase the risk of ovarian cancer- but faults in these genes are rare and probably cause less than five per cent of all cases of ovarian cancer.

Lead author, Professor Dr Paul Pharoah, a Cancer Research UK senior research fellow at the University of Cambridge, said: "We already know that people with mistakes in the BRCA1 and BRAC2 genes have a greater risk of ovarian cancer - they don't account for all of the inherited risk of the disease. "It is likely that the remaining risk is due to a combination of several unidentified genes - which individually carry a low to moderate risk. Now we have ticked one off, the hunt is on to find the rest."

**Rose Lammy, the mother of David Lammy MP for Tottenham and Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property, died of ovarian cancer in 2008. Rose Lammy's DNA sample was included in the study, and she carried both risk alleles of the new genetic marker that researchers have identified.

David Lammy said: "I am pleased that Mum's sample was included in this study as it is one step towards earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer when treatment is more successful. We now know the fact that she had this altered DNA meant that her lifetime risk had risen from 10 in 1,000 to 14 in 1,000, an increase of 40 per cent compared to those women who don't carry this DNA variation. Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, added: "This is an important discovery. Our researchers have worked as part of a huge collaboration to establish the regions of DNA that can increase someone's risk of developing ovarian cancer. "This research paves the way for scientists to discover even more genes linked to ovarian cancer and could lead to new approaches to treat or prevent the disease - help doctors manage women who are at increased risk."

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