Researchers, in a recent study of identical and fraternal twins, found that if one of the twins is diagnosed with any type of cancer, then the chances of the other twin to develop cancer also elevate.

The study researchers said the risk of developing cancer was found to be almost 14% higher in an identical twin if the other twin has any type of cancer. This risk was 5% in fraternal twins if one twin had cancer.

The team even found that if any of the twins developed one type of cancer, the chances of the other twin developing the same type of cancer was also found to be higher.

The findings of the study published on January 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that among pairs of twins in which both individuals had developed cancer, more than two-thirds of the twins were diagnosed with different types of cancers.

This indicates that in some families there is a shared risk of developing any type of cancer, the study researchers said. Their findings shed light on the contribution of genetic and environmental factors in development of any type of cancer, said study lead author, Lorelei Mucci, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

Mucci said in a statement that genetic factors contribute 30% to 60% of the variability in risk for many cancers, including cancers of the breast, uterus, prostate, testicles, kidney, ovaries and skin.

The researchers, for their study, looked at around 80,000 people who were identical twins and about 123,000 same-sex fraternal twins. The twins were studied for an average follow-up period of 32 years and the data was collected between 1943 and 2010.

The researchers found that majorly lung cancer was one of the cancers that were most closely linked to share environmental factors. Testicular and breast cancers also appeared to be linked to shared environmental factors, they said.