Study: Gene May Make Breast Cancer in Blacks Harder to Treat

Researchers report a gene suspected of making breast cancer harder to treat appears active more often in tumors of black women than white women.

Breast cancer is less common among black women than white women, but black patients are more likely to die when they get it.

Dr. Patricia Berg of George Washington University Medical Center, reporting in the journal Breast Cancer Research, said she tested breast cancer tissue from 46 patients, and found that the gene called BP1 was active in 89 percent of tumors from black women compared to 57 percent from white women.

Berg's, whose earlier research found that the BP1 gene can interfere with cell regulation in a manner that helps cancerous cells survive, reported the BP1 gene was active in all of the breast cancer tumors that were difficult to treat because they are not affected by estrogen, compared with three-quarters of tumors that were estrogen-sensitive.

“Because BP1 is expressed abnormally in breast tumors, it could provide a useful target for therapy, particularly in patients with estrogen-negative tumors,” Berg said. " We now must conduct expedited research.

Other sources: Breast Cancer Research