FRIDAY, Oct. 4, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Sisters of women with breast cancer are being recruited for a study to better understand the causes of breast cancer.
Study researchers hope to enroll 50,000 women across the country. They're looking for women, aged 35-74, whose sisters have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Sisters of women with breast cancer are known to have up to twice the risk of other women of developing breast cancer.
The researchers want to better understand why these women have that increased risk. Is it because they share the same genes as their sisters with breast cancer? A common diet? Could the breast cancer be the result of early menstruation or a household or environmental chemical? Could there be a gene-environment interaction?
The women in this study will be studied for 10 years through simple tests and questionnaires. The tests will include collection of blood, urine, toenail clippings and household dust. The study is being done by researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health.
There are a number of reasons why the researchers decided to study sisters of women with breast cancer, says principal investigator Dale Sandler, acting chief of the NIEHS epidemiology branch.
As well as being twice as likely as other women to develop breast cancer, sisters of women with breast cancer are also likely to be within the same age range as their sisters and to have been exposed to many of the same environmental factors during early childhood and possibly later in life as well.
Also, the sisters share many of the same genes, including the genes that determine how their bodies deal with carcinogens or repair DNA, Sandler says.
More information
To learn more or to volunteer for this study, call toll free 1-877-4SISTER (1-877-474-7837) or go to the Sister Study.
