Study: young breast cancer victims face tougher fight

By: Helen Chickering, NBC News Channel | WSAV-TV
Published: July 10, 2008

Breast cancer researchers have uncovered important clues about how the disease behaves in younger women, and why it is so much deadlier for them.

There have only been theories, but now scientists have found genetic evidence that suggests tumors in younger women have a unique set of personality traits.

Women under 40 account for only 5% of breast cancer cases, but when it strikes, the disease is often more aggressive.

"For many many years, we said, well, because they were unfortunate to get breast cancer, and that's a bad thing," said Dr. Kim Blackwell, a cancer researcher at Duke University Medical Center.

Now researchers are figuring out why.

"We found in our study there were things in young women's tumors tick that make them unique."

Unique genetic pathways have been uncovered by Blackwell and a team of researchers, who compared thousands of genes in hundreds of breast cancer tumors.

"It really is the first demonstration of a biologic reason for why younger women don't do as well when they are diagnosed with breast cancer," Blackwell explained.

The finding also raises the question: could breast cancer in younger women be different enough that it should be considered a completely separate disease?

Probably not, says Dana Farber Institute Oncologist Dr. Ann Partridge. "Breast cancer in general is not just one disease, it's multiple diseases and in younger women the mix is different than in older women."

Researchers are now working on understanding those differences so they can create tailored treatments.

Study: young breast cancer victims face tougher fight

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Deal of the Day

Most Popular

Links We Like