• Question: How do women get breast cancer

    Asked by u12reeda to Lou, Susan, Simon, Rachel, Dilwar on 7 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by xheneta1.
    • Photo: Louise Brown

      Louise Brown answered on 7 Nov 2013:

      Hello! That is a very good question and one that is very difficult to answer because us scientists don’t always know why some people get it and some don’t.
      All cancers have many causes, but we get cancer because our DNA changes. Our DNA changes everyday but sometimes the changes build up and cause cancer. These changes (mutations) can be because of smoking, radiation (spending too much time in the sun or on sunbeds) or because of an unhealthy lifestyle (drinking alcohol or eating too much). Some people who do these things never get breast cancer but some people do.
      Sometimes women are more likely to get it if their mum or grandma had it because they have inherited a gene that makes them more likely to have it.
      Age plays a big part, and the older you get the more likely you are to get it. That’s why women over 50 go and get their breasts checked at the hospital every so often, just to make sure everything is OK!

      I hope I answered your question and if you have anymore let me know!! 🙂

      Lou

    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 18 Nov 2013:

      There are lots of reasons why women might get breast cancer. Rachel will probably give you a better idea of some of them. Breast cancer can be caused by faulty genes, being exposed to chemicals called carcinogens (cancer causing agents). These get into the body in our food or through smoking.

      One of my big interests is the link between diet and cancer. In the case of breast cancer being obese is a really important risk. Obese women over the age of 50 are at much greater risk than women of a healthy weight. This is because of a hormone called oestrogen. Young women make oestrogen normally as part of the menstrual cycle but within each cycle, levels go high only for a few days in the month. That oestrogen is made by the ovary. After the menopause, when the menstrual cycle ends, the ovary no longer makes oestrogen. In obese women oestrogen can be made by fat cells instead. As there is no cycle the oestrogen stays at a high level all the time. The fat cells also make a form of oestrogen that is actually a carcinogen (17 beta oestradiol). That longer term production of the hormone is linked to cancer of the breast and the uterus.

Comments

  • Photo: Simon

    Simon commented on :

    Diet is really important too. Women who are too fat (obese) are twice as likely to have breast cancer than those who stay at a healthy weight. Most women get breast cancer when they are in their fifties, so keeping a good weight all the way through adult life is really important.