 | Examining cells from a woman's breast milk could help evaluate future breast health, new studies suggest.
"It looks as if we can use the cells from breast milk to assess breast cancer risk," said Dr. Kathleen Arcaro, an associate at work professor of veterinary and animal sciences for the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
She's going to present her findings Monday along at the annual meeting from the American Association for Cancer Research in Orlando, Fla.
For the study, she collected breast milk from 271 women in the usa.
Most of the women had registered while using the Love/Avon Army of Women, indicating we were looking at willing to engage in cancer of the breast research. Others were recruited from doctors' offices or cancer clinics. Had either undergone a biopsy on the breast to check for cancer, or were scheduled for one.
Arcaro evaluated breast milk samples on the biopsied and non-biopsied breasts. She isolated potentially cancerous cells, known as epithelial cells. Next, she isolated DNA to find signals that regulate tumor suppressor genes.
She analyzed three genes at known to undergo an operation called methylation in cancer of the breast. Methylation in a specific region of a gene can inhibit or suppress the expression of an gene, Arcaro said, "so it's put off."
For one gene, SFRP1, the standard methylation was higher inside biopsied breast, she found.
One of the women whose biopsies detected cancer, average methylation of the RASSF1 gene in the biopsied breast was considerably higher than the non-biopsied breast.
The researchers presented results for 182 women whose biopsy reports were complete and who had the DNA analysis.
Previous studies of them methylation patterns in breast cells used fine nipple aspiration or simply a technique called ductal lavage to retrieve cellular structure. Obtaining the cells from breast milk is noninvasive and inexpensive, Arcaro noted.
It's to soon, however, to assess the cancer detection rate regarding breast milk cell examination, she said, but studies continuing.
"We can't say after all this for two reasons," she said. "One is, we require long-term follow-up. And the second really important reason is, we should instead sample a larger panel of genes."
Eventually, the hope is to use the breast milk screening on older mothers shortly after they give birth. Test could supplement other cancer of the breast predictor tools, like the Gail model, which takes factors such as age into account, Arcaro said.
The study has merit, said Dr. Priscilla A. Furth, a professor of oncology and medicine at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Obtaining the cells seems to be the easy part, Furth said. "The question for you is, how good will this be? And i believe this study does not yet answer that."
Deploying it on a large scale for screening are only valuable if its predictive value is high, she said. Knowning that number is still being researched.
The findings need to be viewed as preliminary because they're presented at a medical conference prior to any publication inside of a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Arcaro is continuing the analysis and will accept milk samples from any nursing mother who learns she requires a breast biopsy. If interested, contact her at the university, and she will arrange to achieve the sample picked up. |  |
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