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Researchers have identified a gene that may help explain why African-American women do
not respond as well to breast cancer treatment as white women. African-American women are
three times more likely to develop aggressive-type breast cancers and significantly more
likely to die from breast cancer than women of other ethnicities. Some researchers have
suggested that this may be due to poorer access to mammography
and less frequent breast cancer screenings among many African-American women. However, a
recent study shows that a gene called BP1, present more often in African-Americans, may
cause breast cancer cells to resist treatments.
In recent years, researchers have found that African-American women tend to develop
breast cancers with certain factors (such as high histologic grades, poorer
differentiation, and a higher S-phase) that
tend to make them more difficult to treat.
Recently, some research has shown that African-American women may be more likely than
white women to develop non-estrogen sensitive breast cancers. That is, the cancer cells do
not depend on estrogen for survival. Thus, hormonal treatments such as the drug tamoxifen, designed to "starve" the cancer cells of
estrogen, are ineffective.
Now, researchers have found that a gene called BP1 tends to be more active in women
with non-estrogen sensitive breast cancers. Dr. Sidney Fu of George Washington University
and colleagues chose to study BP1 because their previous research showed that the gene was
active in leukemia patients and caused cancer cells to resist treatment.
In the current study, Dr. Fu’s team analyzed breast cancer tissue samples of 46
patients. They found that while BP1 was active in 89% of the tumors of African-American
women, it was active in only 57% of tumors of white women. Furthermore, all of the cancers
in which BP1 was active were non-estrogen sensitive (i.e., they did not respond to
hormonal treatments).
Though the small size of the study requires that the results be confirmed in a larger
number of patients, Dr. Fu and colleagues suggest that BP1 may be an important factor that
could help explain why breast cancers tend to be more aggressive and harder to treat in
African-American women, compared to white women. However, the researchers will have to
sort out other questions too, such as why BP1 was found in two non-cancerous breast tissue
samples as well as in cancer samples.
Nevertheless, the study re-confirms the importance of early breast cancer detection.
Finding breast cancer in its earliest stages improves the chances of successful treatment
and survival. This is particularly important for African-American women, who tend to be
diagnosed with later stages of the disease.
Guidelines for early breast cancer detection:
- Monthly breast self-exams for all women 20 years of age and
older
- Regular clinical breast exams (every three years
for women 20-39 years of age; yearly for women 40 years of age and older)
- Mammograms (bi-yearly for women 40-49 years of age; yearly for women 50 years of age and
older)
Additional Resources and References
- The report, "Correlation of Expression of BP1, a Homobox Gene, with Estrogen
Receptor Status in Breast Cancer," is published in the April 22, 2003 issue of Breast
Cancer Research, http://breast-cancer-research.com/
- The April 29, 2003 Imaginis report, "Study Offers New Theory About Aggressive
Breast Cancer in African-American Women," is available at http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/news/news4.29.02.asp
- The December 21, 2000 Imaginis report, "Study Reveals Possible Reasons Why
African-Americans are More Likely to be Diagnosed with Aggressive Breast Cancer Tumors
than Caucasians," is available at http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/news/news12.21.00.asp
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