Think Pinker

There’s nothing so devastating as a woman who has fought and won her battle with breast cancer, only to find herself facing a relapse. Why does this occur?

There’s ongoing research and there has certainly been major findings one of which is some new insight that could change the way breast cancer is fought in women.

It’s not secret – survivors of breast cancer have a substantial risk of having a recurrence. In fact, of the women who are cancer free at 5 years 1/5 of them will have relapsed by the 10 year mark.

According to the new research published by Dr. Katrina Podysypanina indicates that that the reason for relapses could tie to normal cells that spread and then stay dormant at the clean cancer site until the caner cells are turned on and then these cells mutate.

This also may be why breast cancer can spread throughout the body sometimes years after the initial breast cancer is treated and a clean bill of health given.

There is a series of steps involved which change the makeup of normal cells, changing them to cancer cells. For this to occur the cells must be able to survive the trip in the bloodstream and then initiate malignant growth within their new environment. Where cancer first developed, there is a series of genetic alterations that switch on the cancer genes.

So what does this mean to women who have had breast cancer, received their treatments, and are now breast cancer free? The research indicates that the new treatments should target as much time treating the normal breast cells as well as the breast cancer tumor.

Because normal mammary cells can travel through the bloodstream affecting lungs and other organs this research recognizes that treatments have to be more aggressive.

Every breast cancer survivor has fought the fight of their life and you certainly don’t want to think about relapses. Hopefully thanks to this new research in the future women won’t have to.