Potential of breastmilk analysis to inform early events in breast carcinogenesis: rationale and considerations

Abstract

This review summarizes methods related to the study of human breastmilk in etiologic and biomarkers research. Despite the importance of reproductive factors in breast carcinogenesis, factors that act early in life are difficult to study because young women rarely require breast imaging or biopsy, and analysis of critical circulating factors (e.g. hormones) is often complicated by the requirement to accurately account for menstrual cycle date. Accordingly, novel approaches are needed to understand how events such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, weaning, and post-weaning breast remodeling influence breast cancer risk. Analysis of breastmilk offers opportunities to understand mechanisms related to carcinogenesis in the breast, and to identify risk markers that may inform efforts to identify high-risk women early in the carcinogenic process. In addition, analysis of breastmilk could have value in early detection or diagnosis of breast cancer. In this article we describe the potential for using breastmilk to characterize the microenvironment of the lactating breast with the goal of advancing research on risk assessment, prevention, and detection of breast cancer.

Pro-inflammatory cytokines and growth factors in human milk: an exploratory analysis of racial differences to inform breast cancer etiology

“…Participant recruitment, milk collection and processing are described in detail elsewhere (13–15). Briefly, from 2007-2013 lactating women aged 18 years or older were recruited to donate human milk samples, which were frozen and archived at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Breastmilk Laboratory.…”

Proteomics analysis of human breast milk to assess breast cancer risk

“…Human breast milk has been proposed as a suitable bodily fluid for discovering biomarkers useful in early detection of BC, as well as for assessing future risk . Breast milk contains secreted proteins, immune cells and exfoliated epithelial cells originating throughout the organ.…”

“…Breast milk contains secreted proteins, immune cells and exfoliated epithelial cells originating throughout the organ. Milk can be collected non‐invasively, from each breast, and is available at a critical time‐period in the breast development of premenopausal women . Aberrant protein levels in milk may represent secreted proteins from precancerous/cancer epithelial cells or a response of the immune cells and local environment (e.g., stroma cells) to the presence of disease.…”

Comparative two‐dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D‐PAGE) of human milk to identify dysregulated proteins in breast cancer

“…As reviewed previously, a non-invasive tool for early detection of BC could be particularly beneficial for women of reproductive age, as current imaging tools are less effective in detecting cancer in the relatively dense breasts of younger women, and because the incidence of pregnancy associated BC is predicted to increase as the age of first pregnancy increase. Empirical studies support the use of human milk to investigate potential BC biomarkers [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Dysregulated proteins in breast milk could provide potential biomarkers of BC.…”