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Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. The chance that breast cancer will be responsible for a woman's death is about three percent (1 in 35 women). Recent studies have shown that there is a link between suboptimal fetal conditions and a variety of diseases, including breast cancer. Alcohol exposure in utero creates a suboptimal fetal environment, and may increase breast cancer risk.
In our lab, a rodent model has shown that alcohol exposure in utero increased susceptibility to mammary cancer in the offspring. We also saw an increase in estradiol levels (E2) in the animals exposed to alcohol in utero. Therefore, circulating estradiol may be involved in the increase in mammary cancer observed in the alcohol exposed rats. This study will focus on understanding the unknown mechanisms that may cause the increase in mammary cancer susceptibility.
Insulin like growth factor (IGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) systems are important in the biology of mammary the gland as well as cancer etiology. Both EGF and IGF families are known to interact with one another, and the IGF system has been shown to cross talk with the estrogen receptor. Thus altered levels of E2 could alter IGF and EGF signaling. Therefore, we predict that alcohol consumption in utero alters fetal programming which causes altered E2, IGF, and EGF signaling in the offspring.
Presented by Surein Theivakumar. Email: surein@eden.rutgers.edu
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