A personalized assessment of breast cancer risk may be possible by examining the promoter methylation patterns in the DNA of exfoliated cells from lactating women, according to data reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting.
Speaking at a news conference that featured promising diagnostic research, Kathleen F. Arcaro, PhD, Associate Professor of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said that since approximately 80% of women give birth, this screen would also cover a large percentage of the female population.
Dr. Arcaro and colleagues collected breast milk from 230 women who were to have or just had a breast biopsy. The team isolated epithelial cells in the breast milk and then isolated DNA to identify an epigenetic signal, the attachment of methyl groups to the DNA.
The signals were compared with the results of the biopsies that assessed breast cancer risk. In women found to have breast cancer there was a significant increase in average RASSF1 methylation in the biopsied breast versus the non-biopsied breast.
"While our sample size was small, it was sufficient to determine that cells in breast milk can be used to assess breast cancer risk," Dr. Arcaro said, noting that she hoped that one day all women who deliver in hospital will have their colostrum examined to screen for breast cancer-"It's totally noninvasive, potentially inexpensive, and really accurate."