breast cancers

(University of Michigan Health System) A gene that is overexpressed in 20 percent of breast cancers increases the number of cancer stem cells, the cells that fuel a tumor's growth and spread, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

(University of Michigan Health System) University of Michigan scientists have identified key steps in breast-tissue cell division that go awry when CHFR's action is low or absent.

The gene's expression is missing in more than a third of breast cancers. The findings could make it possible to identify which patients are more likely to benefit from taxanes, a class of widely used cancer drugs which includes paclitaxel and docetaxel.

(The Endocrine Society) Researchers have found a new family of therapeutic agents that interferes with the ability of estrogen to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.

The results of the new study will be presented by Nicole Patterson at the Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Researchers have discovered a new family of agents that inhibit the growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells.

The finding, described today at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, has opened an avenue of research into new drugs to combat estrogen-dependent breast cancers.

Adding ultrasound to mammography identifies significantly more breast cancers than mammography alone in high-risk women with dense breasts, a study shows.

(Brown University) Results from a major clinical trial show that adding a screening ultrasound examination to routine mammography reveals more breast cancers than mammography alone -- but also increases the rates of false positive findings.

The American College of Radiology Imaging Net-work, whose biostatistics center is located at Brown University, conducted the study and reported the results in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Breast cancers tend to grow faster in younger women, according to a Norwegian study of women aged 50-69.

(Emory University) A tiny modification called methylation on estrogen receptors prolongs the life of these growth-driving molecules in breast cancer cells.

Most breast cancers contain estrogen receptors, which enable them to grow in the presence of the hormone estrogen.

Their presence can determine whether tumors will respond to the estrogen-blocking drug tamoxifen. The finding will help researchers sort out how mutations change the estrogen receptor's function and allow some breast cancers to resist tamoxifen.

(BioMed Central) A new approach to estimating tumor growth based on breast screening results from almost 400,000 women is published today BioMed Central's open access journal, Breast Cancer Research.

This new model can also estimate the proportion of breast cancers which are detected at screening (screen test sensitivity).

It provides a new approach to simultaneously estimating the growth rate of breast cancer and the ability of mammography screening to detect tumors.

(BioMed Central) Taking aspirin on a daily basis may lower women's risk of a particular type of breast cancer, according to results published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research.

In this large study, aspirin use was linked to a small reduction in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers.

However, unlike in some previous research, aspirin and related painkillers were not found to reduce the total risk of breast cancer.