A team of researchers at UNMC has determined that certain estrogen metabolites could serve as biomarkers to predict the risk of someone getting breast cancer. The results of the study are published in the April issue of Carcinogenesis.
|
|
In the study, breast biopsy tissues were examined for 49 women without breast cancer and 28 women with breast cancer. The tissue samples were analyzed to detect the levels of 31 estrogen metabolites.
In the women with breast cancer, it was found that estrogen levels were higher, and that the levels of two estrogen metabolites — 4-hydroxyestradiol and estrogen-3,4-quinone — were nearly four times higher than seen in women without breast cancer. These results suggest that in women with breast cancer their metabolism of estrogens is out of balance and damage to DNA is more likely.
Eleanor Rogan, Ph.D., and Ercole Cavalieri, D.Sc., both professors in the Eppley Research Institute at UNMC, headed the team of researchers. Other members of the research team included James Edney, M.D., UNMC department of surgery, and William West, M.D., UNMC department of pathology and microbiology.
“The ramifications of this study are significant,” Dr. Rogan said. “We are discovering the biomarkers that we can use to determine a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer.”
Dr. Cavalieri said the research group thinks that estrogen-3,4-quinone reacts with DNA to produce specific mutations that trigger cancer.
“Estrogens can become carcinogenic only when natural mechanisms of protection do not work properly in our body,” Dr. Cavalieri said. “In fact, if these protections go away due to genetic, lifestyle or environmental influences, then metabolism of estrogen can get out of balance and cancer can be triggered.”
In addition to this research, Dr. Cavalieri was awarded a four-year grant totaling $5.6 million from the U.S. Department of Defense earlier this month. This grant involves five other research centers and will investigate the role estrogens play in causing breast cancer and look for new approaches to detecting and preventing the disease.