Study reveals pregnancy reprograms breast cells, reducing cancer risk
May 30, 2020
New Delhi, May 30 (ANI): An early age of pregnancy (25 years and younger) is known to reduce the overall risk of breast cancer by over 30%, suggests findings of a recent study. CSHL Assistant Professor Camila dos Santos spent several years teasing out the molecular details behind the protective effects of pregnancy. She discovered that one-way breast cells protect themselves from cancer after pregnancy in mice is to tuck away a particularly potent cancer gene, cMYC, where it cannot cause harm. Another trick is to keep breast cells suspended in a state of "pre-senescence," a moment in the cell's life cycle between dying, living, and potential cancer. These findings provide new insights into future cancer treatment and better ways to identify risk before a tumour develops. Pregnancy blocks the deadly action of cMYC by rolling the gene away. Dos Santos suggests a familiar image: Pregnancy turns off the cMYC gene and turns on another set of genes that promotes senescence. Cells repeat the pattern open and closed DNA in subsequent pregnancies.
