Breast Cancer News: Body Size, Mutations and Survival

Being thin at 7 may boost breast cancer risk

Women who were thin at the age of seven years may be at high risk of breast cancer compared to those who were not thin at that age, according to a new study published April 15 in the journal Breast Cancer Research.

The study of 2,800 Swedish breast cancer patients and 3,100 women without the disease showed there was an association between childhood body size and tumor characteristics.

"Our main finding was that a large body type at age seven years was associated with a decreased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer," said Jingmei Li, author of the study, in a press release.

A heath observer suggested that the apparent benefit for reduced postmenopausal breast cancer may be offset  by the increased risk for premenopausal breast cancer associated with early menstruation which has been linked to a large body type.

Studies have found women who entered puberty early in their childhood tend to have probably up to 20 more years of menstruation. The increased exposure to endogenous estrogen and other hormones boosts breast cancer risk prior to menopause.

Breast cancer survival rate up

Telegraph.co.uk cited a report from the Office for national Statistics saying that the five-year survival rate for breast cancer and some other cancers have risen.

The 5-year survival rate was higher among those who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2003 and 2007 than those who were diagnosed between 2001 and 2006. 

In comparison, the increase in the survival rate was 1.3 percent.

Jane Hatfield, Director of Policy and Research at Breast Cancer Care was quoted as saying “Early detection plays a vital role in this, and Breast Cancer Care is working hard to encourage women of all backgrounds and ages to be breast aware and to visit their doctor if they have any signs or symptoms that they are concerned about.”

Early screening results in over diagnosis of breast cancer. Many patients receive treatments for tumors that do not pose any risk.  This practice increases the so-called survival rate, a health observer suggests.

Studies have suggested that overall the mammogram screening does not cut breast cancer mortality.

Mutations identified in tissue from breast cancer patient

Researchers identified 50 separate mutations from breast cancer that killed an American woman, including 20 that helped spread tumor cells.

Rick Wilson of Washington University in St. Louis and colleagues tested four samples from the women who died at age 44 when her triple negative cancer spread to her brain and found these mutations.

Twenty mutations were found outside the breast, which were not commonly seen in the early primary breast cancers.

"This indicates that a small subset of cells with a lethal mutation repertoire break free from the primary tumor, circulate in the body, set up residence in other organs and grow aggressively," Dr. Matthew Ellis, an author of the study from from Washington University who worked on the study, was quoted as saying.

The findings reported in the April 15 issue of Nature may lead to new tests and treatments for cancer.

By David Liu