Parental cancer can define the type of breast cancer

The risk of breast cancer may be increased due to genetic and other factors related to lifestyle, such as gene BRCA2, age of first child or the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Now, n new study published in BioMed Central has analyzed the relationship between women with breast cancer and diagnosis of cancer in their parents. The results show that the chances of women with lobular breast cancer has been a parent with cancer (especially prostate cancer) is nearly double that of women with other forms of breast cancer .

A team of researchers from the University of Lund (Sweden) examined data from women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2008. About 40% of them had invasive ductal breast cancer and 8% lobular cancer. At the time of diagnosis, 15% had a parent with cancer and 21% a mother diagnosed with cancer.

Once the data were adjusted for age, use of hormone replacement therapy, the number of children and other known genetic factors, such as having a mother with breast cancer, women who had a parent with cancer almost doubled the risk of developing lobular breast cancer, compared with other types of breast cancer.

Hormonal factor

Since breast cancer is an important hormonal component (in this study 63% of women had lobular cancer with estrogen-receptor positive), one might assume that the parental cancer may be important. However, the increased risk of lobular breast cancer associated with having a parent with cancer was independent of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor status. Prostate cancer is also related to hormones, but the relationship remained even after removing the group of parents with prostate cancer.

The author of the work, Ellberg Carolina, said if you look at the grandparents and other relatives, "the greatest risk of lobular cancer was directly related to having a parent with cancer. This does not necessarily mean that the daughter of a man diagnosed with cancer is more likely to develop lobular breast cancer, but if you develop breast cancer are more likely to be lobular . "