Breast cancer can be detected through breast milk

Breast cancer : Spanish researchers have discovered for the first time that the milk of breast cancer patients contains tumor DNA, and it could help in early detection of the most common type of cancer affecting women worldwide. Tumor DNA, known as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), can be detected in breast milk from liquid biopsies, even before breast cancer is diagnosed using conventional imaging. Research published in the Cancer Discovery Journal suggests that it could become a new tool for early diagnosis of breast cancer after delivery.
The findings came from researchers at Val d’Hebron University Hospital in Spain after a woman was diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant with her third daughter and worried about the potential risk of the tumor spreading to her second daughter through her milk. Concern was expressed. Dr Christina Saura, head of the breast cancer group at the university’s Institute of Oncology (VHIO), said: “The patient brought us a breast milk sample which she had stored in her freezer. This is where our research started. Although we knew Knowing that breast cancer is not spread through breast milk, we decided to analyze the samples.”
“And indeed, when we analyzed the patient’s breast milk, we found DNA with the same mutation that was present in her tumor. The breast milk had been collected more than a year before the patient’s cancer diagnosis ” The researchers then collected breast milk and blood samples from 15 breast cancer patients diagnosed during pregnancy or postpartum, as well as from healthy women who were breastfeeding. Two technologies, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR), were used.
Dr. Anna Vivancos, head of VHIO’s genomics laboratory, said, “We found that breast milk contained free circulating DNA of tumor origin. We were able to detect those mutations in the breast milk samples of 13 of the 15 patients analyzed. were present in the tumors of breast cancer patients. Whereas ctDNA was found in only one of the blood samples collected at the same time.” Additionally, the team developed an NGS-based genomic panel as a potential method for early diagnosis of breast cancer. Based on publicly available data, researchers designed the VHIO-YWBC gene panel to detect the most common mutations present in women with breast cancer diagnosed before age 45.
The sensitivity of the panel is more than 70 percent. Dr. Saura explains, “This panel can be used in the future as a method for early diagnosis of breast cancer after delivery. Just as all newborn babies are pricked in the heel, similarly, breast cancer screening “Collecting a breast milk sample from all women after birth may also be considered.”