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In a move that could alter the way breast cancers are treated, scientists have categorized breast cancer into four distinctive types based on genetics. It seems, one of the four types of breast cancer has more in common with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer than other types.

The similarity found between one type of breast cancer with ovarian cancer paves way for a new way of thinking about cancer, unlike defining cancers by the organ of origin.

"It's incredible," said Dr. James Ingle of the Mayo Clinic, one of the study's 348 authors, of the ovarian cancer connection, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. "It raises the possibility that there may be a common cause."

This means that it is possible that some women can be treated with less toxic drugs for ovarian cancer rather than with a type of drug, anthracyclines, which has harsh side effects.

Such cancers are often called triple negative but the study researchers call them basal-like.

The findings made by the scientists could lead to new treatments with drugs which are already in the market, approved for cancers in other parts of the body. Also, the treatment would be more specific to genetic aberrations that now have no known treatment.

This is the first study of its kind to have comprehended the genetic analysis of breast cancer.

"This is the road map for how we might cure breast cancer in the future," Dr. Matthew Ellis of Washington University, a researcher for the study, was quoted as saying by The Salt Lake Tribune.

However, scientists warn that there is a long time to go before the findings of the current research are translated to insights that would help make new treatments. Even though the breast cancers have been divided into 4 broad categories, it seems that individual tumors are driven by their own sets of genetic changes.  Considering this, a wide variety of drugs may be required to be produced to suit individual tumors.

"There are a lot of steps that turn basic science into clinically meaningful results," said Karuna Jaggar, executive director of Breast Cancer Action, an advocacy group. "It is the 'stay tuned' story."

The current study, based on an analysis of tumors from 825 patients, was conducted as a part of a huge federal project that focused on building maps of genetic changes in common cancers.

"There has never been a breast cancer genomics project on this scale," said the program director, Brad Ozenberger of the National Institutes of Health.

For the study, the researchers identified at least 40 genetic alterations that might be attacked by drugs. A lot of them are already being developed for other types of cancer that have the same mutations, the report said.

"We now have a good view of what goes wrong in breast cancer," said Joe Gray, a genetic expert at Oregon Health & Science University, who was not involved in the study. "We haven't had that before."

The focuses of this study were the most common types of cancers originating in the milk duct. It also focused on cancers that were in its early stages, so that genetic changes could be attacked.

The study was published online on Sunday in the journal Nature.