The well-known BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations linked to breast cancer are rare and have a strong effect on cancer risk. But since these mutations only contribute to a small percentage of breast cancers, much of the genetic risk is thought to come from common gene variants with weaker effects.

To identify these, Jeffrey Smith, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine, William Dupont, Ph.D., professor of Biostatistics, and colleagues searched for single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs – single “letter” changes in the genetic code – associated with breast cancer in four independent breast cancer study populations.

The investigators evaluated more than 1,100 SNPs and validated a series of previously identified breast cancer risk variants. Additionally, they identified two previously unreported variants associated with breast cancer risk in three of the four study populations.

The findings, reported in the September Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, may help improve breast cancer risk prediction models to identify high-risk patients who may benefit from enhanced screening and prevention strategies.

The research was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (CA098131, CA050468, CA068485), the National Center for Research Resources/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (RR024975) of the National Institutes of Health, theDepartment of Defense, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Source: Vanderbilt University

Researchers may have discovered a new explanation as to why obese patients with cancer often have a poorer prognosis compared with those who are lean.

The potential explanation is based on data reported in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

"Studies of the population have clearly established that there is a link between obesity and cancer incidence," said Mikhail Kolonin, Ph.D., associate professor at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. "Moreover, for several cancers, obesity is associated with a poorer prognosis."

Kolonin and his colleagues evaluated how obesity promotes cancer progression. "Our earlier studies led us to hypothesize that fat tissue called white adipose tissue, which is the fat tissue that expands in individuals who are obese, is itself directly involved and that it is not just diet and lifestyle that are important," he said.

New potential tools

Julio M. Pow-Sang, M.D., chair of Moffitt Cancer Center's Department of Genitourinary Oncology, and colleagues have published two prostate cancer articles in the September issue of JNCCN -- The Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The articles review and clarify recent updates made to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's (NCCN) guidelines for the screening and treatment of prostate cancer.

According to the NCCN, nearly 242,000 cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2012, accounting for 29 percent of new cancers among men. It is estimated that more than 28,000 men will die from the disease this year.

According to the journal, prostate cancer is "over diagnosed and over treated" and is subject to a controversy "fueled by large screening studies." This month, Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, the NCCN has offered support for active surveillance, a strategy by which men with low-risk tumors, often classified as clinically insignificant, are monitored over time.