Discovery Could Lead to Early Cancer Detection, Prevention

Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha have assisted in a significant discovery – the understanding of a common mechanism of cancer initiation – that could result in better cancer assessment, prevention and detection.

“We have a novel approach to cancer. We know the initiating step,” said Ercole Cavalieri, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “We think prevention of cancer can be solved by eliminating this initiating step.”

Eleanor Rogan, Ph.D., a UNMC research collaborator, continued: “We have found the first step that starts a cell down the road to becoming a cancer cell. By preventing this first step from happening, we think we can stop the development of breast or prostate cancer. The combination of an early detection test for cancer risk with administration of preventing agents should enable us to significantly reduce the number of women and men that develop breast or prostate cancer.”

The researchers have discovered that certain estrogen derivatives (metabolites) can react with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to cause damage that may initiate a series of events leading to breast, prostate and other cancers. They found evidence in a simple urine test in humans. Estrogens can initiate cancer when natural mechanisms of protection do not work properly in the body, allowing estrogen metabolites to react with DNA.

“If these protections are insufficient, due to genetic, lifestyle or environmental influences, we think cancer can result,” Dr. Cavalieri said. “Now that we have the basic knowledge about this unifying mechanism of cancer initiation, we have a greater sense of urgency to assess people at risk and, at the same time, begin studies of prevention by using specific natural compounds.”

The findings are published in the December issue of the International Journal of Cancer. Findings were confirmed in a second, larger study and presented at a recent gathering of international scientists and physicians in San Antonio, Texas. The study involves researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Mayo Clinic and the Italian National Cancer Institute. A majority of the study was funded by the U.S. Army Breast Cancer Research Program Center of Excellence Award. Similar findings were reported and published about prostate cancer in the journal The Prostate in 2006.

The screening test developed by the researchers analyzes estrogen metabolite profiles in humans and can simultaneously associate the profile with risk of getting breast cancer. It involves testing a one-ounce sample of urine using a sophisticated method called tandem mass spectrometry, which analyzes about 40 estrogen-related compounds, including estrogen-DNA adducts formed by a chemical reaction of estrogen metabolites and DNA.

Researchers say the results are exciting because they show women at high risk of breast cancer can be identified by the level of adducts in a urine sample.