Thursday, October 16, 2014

And so what is the cause of breast cancer?

That is the unanswered question. Tons of research has been done on treating and curing breast cancer but not as much has been done on why 90% of breast cancer patients have no family history. That's right, you hear all those conversations about BRCA genes and hereditary breast cancer and the Angelina Jolie effect but those only account for 10% of all breast cancer cases.

"Five eminent Boston researchers will officially join forces Thursday to tackle one of the most perplexing questions about breast cancer: Why do so many people with no family history of the disease get it?

The researchers will examine whether common man-made chemicals are responsible for the disease, which increasingly strikes men and women.

In 2014, breast cancer will be the second-most-diagnosed form of cancer and the third- deadliest form of the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. But unlike with some other cancers, the vast majority of breast cancer diagnoses — more than 90 percent — cannot be traced to a hereditary cause, the institute said."

This is the kind of research I want to see. I am one of the 90% - there is no family history on either side for me. One of my mother's second cousins had breast cancer back in the 1970s and since my diagnosis, one of my aunts was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer at age 76. Both of my grandfather's died of cancer - one with gall bladder cancer and the other with prostate. My father was diagnosed with lymphoma in his 80s. This is not a breast cancer family history.

So why me? The eternal question of all cancer patients. I dislike the articles that tell us what we did wrong. I want to know what factors might have caused my cancers.

"“The bottom line is that there is not a lot of coordinated research around the environment and breast cancer,” she said. “We felt that in order to have some kind of strong impact on the field of environmental causes of breast cancer we needed to put together a large project.”

Most cancer research is dedicated to developing drugs or cures, Sherr said. But the Boston consortium’s ultimate goal is finding a way to prevent the cancer from ever taking hold."

They have a $5 million three year grant to help solve this riddle. I hope they get more funding to continue their research. Read more here.

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