Breast Cancer Biomarkers Based on Nipple and Fine Needle Aspirates
Abstract
The recent progress in defining the early premalignant phases of breast cancer has made primary prevention a real possibility. Women with a familial risk of breast cancer are a particularly good population to target for chemopreventive approaches to reduce breast cancer incidence because of their significantly increased risk and their significantly earlier age of onset of the disease. The increased risk for both initial and contralateral breast cancer associated with a family history is two- to four-fold (1). Women who are carriers of a mutation in the BR CAl or BRCA2 genes may have a lifetime risk of breast cancer as high as 85% (2-4). Furthermore, women who are BR CAl mutation carriers are more likely to develop tumors that are estrogen and progesterone receptor negative and are less likely to benefit from Tamoxifen as a chemopreventive agent (5,6). Preliminary studies performed in our laboratory have capitalized on the protective effect of pregnancy reported both in women (7-9) and in experimental studies (10-13). Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a glycoprotein hormone secreted early in pregnancy by the: developing embryo, has been suggested as one source of protection associated with pregnancy (14-16). Suppression of mammary carcinogenesis similar to, or even more efficient than that induced by pregnancy has been achieved by treatment of young virgin rats with hCG, given as daily intraperitoneal injections for 21 days, a time that in the rat model is equivalent to the length of a full term pregnancy (14-17). Other studies, funded through non-DOD sources (see below) have further demonstrated that hCG treatment of rats previously exposed to DMBA inhibits the progression of preneoplastic lesions, such as intraductal proliferations and carcinomas in situ (17-20).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA433861
Entities
People
- Irma Russo
Organizations
- Fox Chase Cancer Center