A study that used MRI to measure breast density in mother-daughter pairs found that the percentage of water concentration in breast tissue could be linked to the risk of breast cancer in middle age and older.
The study, published online in Lancet Oncology, sheds light on breast density as an inheritable characteristic known to be a cancer risk factor that could help researchers develop cancer prevention methods, according to lead author Dr. Norman Boyd of the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.
Conducted between 2003 and 2006, the study included 400 mother-daughter pairs. The researchers used MRI to examine breast tissue in daughters, ages 15 to 30 years, and a random sample of 100 of the mothers. In the young women, MRI was used to measure breast water concentration to avoid exposure to radiation from mammograms; the mothers underwent mammography. Blood also was drawn from each woman within 10 days of the start of the most recent menstrual period.
Results showed that percent breast water variation was higher in 15- to 19-year-olds than in 20- to 30-year-olds, and that it decreased with age, according to the analysis of the 100 mother-daughter pairs who both had MRI.
In the mothers, percent breast water as measured by MRI was strongly linked with percentage of mammographic density. Percent breast water in daughters (median, 45%) was significantly higher than in mothers (28%) and decreased as their age and weight increased, but increased with increasing height.
Higher blood growth hormone concentrations were also linked to higher percent breast water. The study showed that each 5 cm difference in height in daughters was associated with a 3% increase in percent breast water, which suggests a mechanism by which growth might affect the risk of developing cancer, according to Boyd.
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