Scientists Identify location for a Gene for Breast Density, a risk for Breast Cancer
Scientists have identified a gene that is significantly associated with breast density,
which is a known risk factor for breat cancer.
Women with dense breasts -- defined as those women who have less proportion of fat tissue compated with other tissue (stromal and epithelial), are 3 - 5 times more likely to develop breast cancer when compared to women with less dense breasts, according to the researchers. Scientists have estimated the total influence of genes on breast density to be about 60 percent.
Largest Study Yet Confirms Benefits of Letrozole in Breast
Cancer
Fewer Recurrences than Tamoxifen
Evidence is mounting that for many women aromatase inhibitors -- in this
case, the drug letrozole (Femara) -- are better than tamoxifen for keeping
breast cancer from returning after surgery. Researchers at the annual
meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando presented
data over the weekend on the largest study yet to compare the two drugs.
Letrozole is one of three FDA-approved aromatase inhibitors. These are
drugs that prevent estrogen from forming in the body. Several studies
of some of these drugs have shown that they do better at preventing breast
cancer recurrences than tamoxifen, the standard therapy for breast cancer
for decades. But aromatase inhibitors have only been on the market a few
years, and researchers want to know if they all work better than tamoxifen,
and what are their long-term effects on women who take them.
|
Last updated on
September 1, 2007
Legal disclaimer : We are not responsible for the content of the articles
presented here. They are presented as a service to our web site readers
to find news on health care topics. The news articles provided here do
not indicate an endorsement by anyone affiliated with this site and we
are not responsible for the content of any third party web sites that
we may link to from this site.
|
Non-invasive and invasive breast cancers share the same genetic mutations
Women diagnosed with early stage, non-invasive breast cancer who carry
the same mutations in two inherited breast/ovarian cancer genes as women
diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, may benefit from high risk treatment,
Yale researchers report in the February 23 issue of Journal of the American
Medical Association.
The inherited breast/ovarian cancer genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2, which
are associated with an increased risk of breast and/or ovarian cancer.
The results are part of a five-year study of a common form of early stage
breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Led by Elizabeth
B. Claus, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology
and Public Health (EPH) at Yale School of Medicine, the Yale team examined
genetic and environmental risk factors for the development of DCIS. They
genetically tested 369 women with DCIS for alterations in BRCA1 and BRCA2.
|
|
Smoking Ups Risk of Premenopausal Breast Cancer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Both active and "passive" smoking
(exposure to secondhand smoke) increase the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal
but not postmenopausal women, a study of middle-aged Japanese women suggests.
The investigators think that higher levels of estrogens present in the
body of premenopausal women may act jointly with external cancer-causing
agents, such as tobacco, to fuel the development of breast cancer.
|
|
