|
 Home
|
|
Back
|
8 May 2008
|
Inherited germline mutations influence breast cancer survival
|
MedWire News: Breast cancer patients are more likely to die from their cancer if they have a child with a pediatric malignancy, a study has found.
The findings demonstrate that hereditary factors can influence breast cancer survival, possibly through p53 germline mutations or genetic disorders such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome, say Hakan Olsson (Lund University, Sweden) and colleagues.
Using information from the national Swedish cancer registry and fertility register, the researchers identified 74,781 women who had at least one child and were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1961 and 1999.
Of these women, 254 had children who were diagnosed with sarcoma, brain tumor, lymphoma, acute leukemia, or myeloid leukemia before they reached 20 years of age. Only 33 (13%) women were diagnosed with cancer before their offspring were.
Women who had a child with any malignancy were 26% more likely to die of breast cancer than women who did not have a child with cancer, the authors report in the British Journal of Cancer.
Mortality from breast cancer was highest if the child had lymphoma, sarcoma, or acute myeloid leukemia, with relative risks of 30%, 38%, and 71%, respectively, compared with parous breast cancer patients without affected offspring.
Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the survival deficit among women who had a child with a pediatric malignancy was present in patients younger than 50 years of age as well as those aged 50 years or older.
The authors note that most childhood cancers occurred before mothers were diagnosed with breast cancer, lending support to a stress reaction or grief affecting the prognosis of breast cancer, although there is little evidence to confirm this. Alternatively, shared environmental effects might also contribute to an increased mortality risk.
The most likely explanation, say Olsson et al, is inherited genetic factors such as p53 germline mutations that could affect tumor biology and worsen prognosis.
They note that p53 mutations are the hallmark of heritable genetic disorders such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome, sarcomas, and leukemia are known manifestations of the condition.
Br J Cancer 2008; Advance online publication
http://www.nature.com/bjc/index.html
|
|
© 2006 CMG
|
This website is intended for an international audience. Drug related information may refer to unlicensed products or uses, which may not be approved in your own country, and you should therefore consult your local prescribing information. This website is not intended for use by U.S. residents. No information provided on this site should be taken as a recommendation from this website or the site sponsors as to the use of any product.
|
Site services
Search
Faslodex.net features
BreastCancerSource
|
 |
| |
|
|
