Genetics plays a far greater role in the risk of testicular cancer than with other cancers, a new study finds.

Almost half the risk of developing testicular cancer is genetic, UK researchers found.

Typically, heredity plays a role of only up to 20 percent in most types of cancer. With testicular cancer, that figure rises to about 49 percent, the new study showed.

Testicular cancer is relatively rare, accounting for only about 1 percent of all cancers in men. Men are diagnosed with it at an average age of 33, which is much younger than with other cancers. It is very curable when detected early.

UK researchers led a team of scientists from Germany, Sweden, and the U.S. who verified their results in two different ways. First, they looked at a large Swedish database of testicular cancer patients to discern patterns of inheritance, and then they looked in detail at the genetic code of 6,000 UK men from two previous testicular cancer studies, which included 986 that had been diagnosed with the disease.

The combined analysis revealed that 49 percent of all the possible factors contributing to testicular cancer risk are inherited.

The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was funded in part by the Movember Foundation.