Genes, Mutations, and Breast Cancer Stem Cells

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Results for recent studies at the University of Michigan could explain the reasons why women with a particular type of gene mutation face a higher risk of breast cancer. The mutation, called BRCA1, is vitally important in stemming unregulated stem cell growth that ultimately may develop into cancer. This mutation is involved with the loss of function in a proliferation of breast stem cells. Such results have helped to support the hypothesis in the medical field that small numbers of cells called cancer stem cells may be responsible for not only increasing a tumor, but in proliferating its growth.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center are hoping to pursue studies that will help to pinpoint the cause of the mutation. BRCA1 is a gene that may initiate a higher risk of breast cancer when mutated. Women suffering from such mutation have been shown to develop more aggressive forms of cancers that are called triple negative types, because they generally can't be targeted with typical cancer therapy. Women who have been found to carry the BRCA1 mutation and such stem cells suffer a higher chance of developing breast cancer. These mutations cause most types of hereditary breast cancer in women.

Nearly 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer of some type in the United States every year. Identifying the cause of breast cancer would be a great leap into finding a cure and even prevention for such women who bear hereditary predispositions for the conditions.

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