Link found between breast cancer and prostate cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. It is hard to find someone today who has not been affected by breast cancer in some way. A new study shows that having a family history of prostate cancer among first-degree relatives may increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

Over 78,000 women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study between 1993 and 1998 and were free of breast cancer at the start of the study. In a follow up study conducted in 2009, 3506 cases of breast cancer had occurred.

More than 11 percent of women who developed breast cancer reported a first-degree relative with prostate cancer, compared to about 10 percent of women without the disease. Having a father, brother or son with prostate cancer increased the risk of breast cancer by about 14 percent.

“Both of these cancers are relatively common, so that it is possible when cancers are diagnosed in multiple family members it may be due to chance,” lead author Jennifer L. Beebe-Dimmer of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit said. “It may also be an exposure to something in the environment.”

In separate analyses that looked into the joint impact of both cancers, a family history of both breast and prostate cancer was linked with a 78 percent increase in breast cancer risk. While this statistic is alarming, it does help researchers who are developing a cure; understanding the cause of cancer can lead to a solution along the way.

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