Nov 5, 2005

Mimicking Pregnancy To Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

Women who had at least one pregnancy have much less risk of developing breast cancer compared to women who have never been pregnant. Earlier during the course of the reproductive life the woman gets pregnant, higher are her chances of preventing breast cancer. The question is: can you mimic pregnancy to escape developing breast cancer and that is exactly what the researchers are asking.


Now, some researchers who gathered in Baltimore for the Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research conference say they may have found a way to mimic nature and reduce the risk f breast cancer for all women.

The caveat however is that they have so far experimented this new technique only in mice. Mice, as you know after all, are not human being and naturally clinical trial have to be conducted in women before this new method cancer can be used in women. These researchers are particularly hopeful that this research will prove to be effective in women.

This is the theory of breast cancer prevention by mimicking pregnancy: when a woman becomes pregnant the fetus produces a protein called alpha feto protein (AFP). This protein is capable of reducing mother's breast cancer risk later in life.

The protective effect of breast cancer is apparent after each time a woman becomes pregnant. The younger she is the first time, the greater the benefit. Having twins or triplets increases the beneficial effect. Women who become pregnant at age of 20 have about half the risk of breast cancer as a woman whose first pregnancy occurs at 26 or later.

Researchers from Albany Medical College have produced a molecule with the same chemical characteristics as AFP and gave it to thousands of mice that had been implanted with breast cancer cells. The research team found that this compound, AFPep, stopped the growth of the cancer cells and reduced the number of tumors in the mice by 23 percent.

When AFPep was combined with tamoxifen - a drug now used to treat breast cancer - it reduced tumors by 77 percent.

"This is a new proposal and a brand new way of looking at breast cancer treatment," said Thomas T. Andersen, a biochemist and cancer researcher at the medical college.

Let's hope this will pan out to be a reliable breast cancer prevention method in human beings.

Janet      Return to Cancer Blog Main

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Janet      

Cancer
We do not know the exact cause of many cancers. Many cancers like leukemia have no apparent cause. Some other types of cancers like lung cancers have identifiable causes like smoking in most cases. Lung cancer can occur in those who have never smoked in their life. It is hard to know in these cases what is causing that patients lung cancer. Factors that increase the risk of development of cancer is known as risk factors for cancer. These risk factors may be modifiable like smoking where a person can exert control or un-modifiable factors like age and gender. Smoking can cause cancers of the lungs, mouth, throat, bladder, kidneys and several other organs.