New biomarker helps predict breast cancer risk

A team of researchers have found a new biomarker in the blood that could help identify women at a high risk of breast cancer, according to a study released Tuesday by the Imperial College London.

Researchers from Imperial College London and the Human Genetics Foundation (HuGeF) in Torino, Italy, found that DNA methylation levels in blood cells were associated with breast cancer risk.

DNA methylation is the process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA, modifying its function and regulating how much of a gene gets made into proteins, something that is essential for normal cell development.

The researchers took blood samples from healthy women who were then monitored for an average period of around nine years. During this period, the women who developed breast cancer had a lower level of DNA methylation in their white blood cells, compared to the women who didn't develop the disease.

The team's findings confirmed a growing body of evidence suggesting that lower than normal methylation of white blood cell DNA could be predictive of a heightened breast cancer risk.

DNA methylation can now be seen as a new player in the field of epigenetics and in our understanding of breast cancer risk, which would ultimately help refine and improve the ways doctors assess, and monitor an individual's breast cancer risk, according to the study.

Crucially, epigenetic patterns are modifiable, meaning that, unlike genetic risk, "there is a possibility that we may find ways in which you can modify your epigenetic risk, so that fewer people develop cancer in the first place," said Dr. James Flanagan, from the Imperial College London.