Date Published:
7 October 2008 |
"Research needed" to develop breast cancer prevention drug
A 'one-stop' drug treatment could one day be developed to prevent breast cancer,
one of Britain's leading researchers has said.
Professor Valerie Beral, who is director of the cancer epidemiology unit at
Oxford University and is funded by Cancer Research UK, said that childbirth
and breastfeeding have been shown beyond doubt to protect against breast cancer.
She has called for more research into ways to mimic the hormones involved and
thereby prevent breast cancer, rather than ploughing the vast majority of research
money into treating the disease once it has already developed.
"We don't know how this happens and nobody is doing research on
it," she claimed. "We should be looking at hormone production during
late pregnancy and lactation."
The professor believes that an interesting direction for future research could
involve a hormone called prolactin.
She told the Guardian:
"The one hormone that has to do with breast changes doesn't appear
until late pregnancy. It goes up exponentially. It produces the changes in
the breast that make for lactation. Why isn't anyone looking at it?"
Professor Beral revealed that fewer than a dozen scientists are currently following
this avenue of research.
Speaking at the National Cancer Research Institute's annual conference, she
said:
"It is not well-funded. It is not mainstream research. Why isn't
it a priority of the cancer community?"
The professor backed up her stance by noting that research into preventing
disease has already proved its worth in the case of cervical cancer, where research
has led to a vaccine which could prevent many cases of the disease.
Cancer Research UK
Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is
to beat cancer.
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Cancer Research UK carries out world-class research to improve
understanding of the disease and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat
different kinds
of cancer.
* Cancer Research UK ensures that its findings are used to improve the lives
of all cancer patients.
* Cancer Research UK helps people to understand cancer, the progress that is
being made and the choices each person can make.
* Cancer Research UK works in partnership with others to achieve the greatest
impact in the global fight against cancer.
For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how
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in the article above are not necessarily those of IvyRose Ltd.. Material in
this news item was released by Cancer Research UK on 7
October 2008 and may have been edited (e.g. in style,
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