Tag Archives: breast

Earlier onset of puberty in girls linked to obesity

Published online Nov. 4, the multi-institutional study strengthens a growing body of research documenting the earlier onset of puberty in girls of all races. "The impact of earlier maturation in girls has important clinical implications involving psychosocial and biologic outcomes," said Frank Biro, MD, lead investigator and a physician in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. "The current study suggests clinicians may need to redefine the ages for both early and late maturation in girls." Girls with earlier maturation are at risk for a multitude of challenges, including lower self-esteem, higher rates of depression, norm-breaking behaviors and lower academic achievement. …

Metformin for breast cancer less effective at higher glucose concentrations

Metformin, the most common first-line drug in the treatment of type-2 diabetes, has been shown in previous studies to reduce breast cancer risk, improve survival, and increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Numerous Phase III clinical trials are currently evaluating the benefits and best uses of metformin in breast cancer patients. "We show that metformin works differently in high- compared to low-glucose conditions. Not only does it require a higher concentration of metformin to be active in high-glucose conditions, but we report that the drug regulates different genes within cancer cells at high as compared to normal glucose levels," says Ann Thor, MD, CU Cancer Center investigator, Todd Professor of Pathology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and the study’s principal investigator. …

Imaging breast cancer with light

If effective, the new device, called a photoacoustic mammoscope, would represent an entirely new way of imaging the breast and detecting cancer. Instead of X-rays, which are used in traditional mammography, the photoacoustic breast mammoscope uses a combination of infrared light and ultrasound to create a 3-D map of the breast…

Investigational PARP inhibitor promising in BRCA-related cancers

When there is damage to DNA in human cells, two proteins, PARP 1 and 2, recruit proteins that can repair the damage associated with loss of BRCA proteins. Mutations in BRCA genes often result in inefficient repair of damaged DNA, which increases the risk for developing certain cancers, including cancers of the breast and ovary. Inhibiting PARP, therefore, prevents the repair of damaged DNA, leading to cell death. …

Lifestyle factors could put college-age women at higher risk of breast cancer

"Unfortunately, college-age women generally do not consider themselves at risk for breast cancer," said Dr. Mercier. "However, there are several risk factors that contribute to the development of breast cancer that need to be understood early in life to prevent the development of breast cancer down the road." By the end of 2013, more than 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S…

Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy may not increase life expectancy

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 232,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S. every year, making breast cancer the second most common type of cancer in women, after skin cancer. Many women who face this diagnosis worry about cancer recurring in the healthy breast and therefore choose to have both breasts removed, even though the risk of developing cancer in the other breast is very low. Women at high risk include those with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer and women who test positive for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations…

Multivitamins with minerals may protect older women with invasive breast cancer

"Our study offers tentative but intriguing evidence that multivitamin/mineral supplements may help older women who develop invasive breast cancer survive their disease," said Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., lead author of the study and distinguished university professor emerita of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Multivitamin/mineral supplements are the most commonly consumed dietary supplements among U.S. adults. They usually contain 20-30 vitamins and minerals, often at levels of 100 percent of U.S…

Rising trend in genome mapping delivers targeted breast cancer treatment

Even more promising, clinical research trials at a few select institutions around the country, including Cleveland’s University Hospitals Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center, are part of a development in a rising trend toward targeted treatments as a result of genomic profiling of tumors. …

Breast cancer rates stable among active component service women

As in the general U.S. population, with the exception of skin cancer, breast cancer is the most frequent cancer diagnosis among women. During the 13-year surveillance period from 2000 to 2012, 1,092 female active component members were diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the study published in the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, a peer-reviewed journal on illnesses and diseases affecting service members from the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC). Of those diagnoses, 244 (22.3 percent) of were ductal cinoma in situ (DCIS) cases. …

Triple-negative breast cancer target for drug development identified

UCSF researcher Luika Timmerman, PhD, an investigator in the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that many cell lines obtained from triple-negative breast cancer are especially dependent on cystine, one of the 20 amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins that all cells need. Timmerman used an FDA-approved drug to inhibit activity of a transporter protein that ferries cystine into triple-negative breast cancer cells, and found that it significantly inhibited their growth in culture and when the cancer cells were transplanted into mice…