In an innovative study, researchers at the Turku Bioscience Centre and Turku University Hospital, Finland, have made a new discovery that could open new therapeutic avenues. Their study suggests that healthy fat cells in the breast produce a potent factor called IGFBP2, which acts as a barrier against invasive breast cancer progression.
While increased age and having dense breast tissue are well-known risk factors for developing breast cancer, this study provides a possible explanation for the increased risk: The research team found that IGFBP2 levels are also reduced in older individuals and that healthy breast fat cells can secrete factors, such as IGFBP2, to inhibit tumor progression. Dr. James Conway, the lead researcher of the team, added, “While restoring IGFBP2 into the mammary environment might not be possible, the use of antibody-based inhibitors of IGF-II could help to contain non-invasive breast lesions by acting in a similar fashion to IGFBP2 itself, which we have already observed in our model systems.”
While innovation is an ongoing process, the 50% of the female population who has dense breast tissue can not wait for solutions somewhere in the near or distant future. Approximately 70% of cancers are being missed when using mammography alone, whereas our FDA cleared, dedicated Breast CT device is especially effective in imaging dense breast tissue. Similar to whole body CT imaging where contrast enhancement is used to improve visualization of disease in the body, contrast enhanced breast CT imaging increases specificity thereby allowing for improvement in early-stage cancer detection when compared to mammography. Koning’s breast CT can acquire these improved images in a matter of seconds and at radiation levels in the same range as conventional mammograms.
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Source:
“Healthy breast fat may protect against invasive breast cancer”, News Medical, Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM, Jul 17 2023