Study links breast cancer and hormone pro-enkephalin levels
Women with low levels of the painkilling hormone pro-enkephalin have a much higher risk of contracting breast cancer
A study from Lund University in Sweden has demonstrated that women with low levels of the painkilling hormone pro-enkephalin have a much higher risk of contracting breast cancer. The discovery should allow doctors to put into place a new breast cancer detection test for earlier diagnosis.
Directed by Professor Olle Melander, the study aims to establish the link between enkephalin, a hormone that also possesses anxiolytic properties, and breast cancer risk.
Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology the results show that women who have lower levels of the hormone are three times more likely to develop breast cancer than women with a significantly higher level of the hormone.
Researchers based the study on blood samples from 1,929 women in the city of Malmo. They were treated for breast cancer for an average of 15 years. The results were adjusted to take into account age, menopause, hormonal treatments, tobacco and other factors that could have influenced the contraction of the disease.
The researchers assert that “the findings show evidence of a statistical correlation between small concentrations of enkephalin in the blood cells and a higher breast cancer risk,” and other studies have confirmed these results.
A direct effect on tumor cells
In order to verify the findings, scientists have compared the results with those of an older study comprised of 1,569 women of a median age of 70 also from Malmo. In this particular group, the link between low levels of the hormone and breast cancer risk was even more evident. Other studies, including those conducted on animals, have showed similar results.
The study has also been able to demonstrate that enkephalin can strengthen the immune system’s response to cancer cells and have an inhibitive effect on tumor cells.
These conclusions hold enormous promise for researchers as they hope to rapidly put into place a new system using enkephalin that allows for an earlier detection of breast cancer and breast cancer risk.
The release comes shortly after publication of several studies in the American JAMA review of Internal Medicine and the British Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine that raise questions about mammography screening and overdiagnosis.
-AFP Relaxnews
Category: Features, Health alert
