MONDAY, Feb. 20, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Women with a genetic mutation in one of two related genes are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, a new study suggests.
Mutations in the LEP and LEPR genes result in high serum levels of the hormone leptin and to overexpression of leptin in fatty tissue. Both mutations could be used as markers to identify people at increased risk for breast cancer, the study authors said.
They also noted that the mutations are associated with shorter survival time after breast cancer diagnosis, so they may prove useful as predictors of prognosis for breast cancer patients.
Researchers in Tunisia and the United States compared 308 breast cancer patients and a control group of 222 women with no personal or family history of the disease. Both groups were checked for mutations in LEP and LEPR.
Women with the LEP mutation had a higher risk of breast cancer than women without the mutation. Women with two copies of the mutation had three times the risk of breast cancer than women without the mutation, the study found.
The researchers also found that the LEPR mutation was much more common in the breast cancer patients than in the control group.
The LEP mutation was associated with a large tumor size at diagnosis and the LEPR mutation was associated with shorter overall survival time.
Previous research found no link between the LEPR mutation and increased risk of breast cancer.
The findings appear in the current issue of the journal BMC Cancer.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about breast cancer.
