Understanding how some genetic changes lead to breast cancer in men and women

Many people don’t know that both men and women can get breast cancer. Around 55,000 women and 370 men are diagnosed each year in the UK. We need to find ways to accurately tell who is at higher risk of breast cancer and to understand the similarities and differences between the disease in men and women. This could help us develop better ways to prevent and treat it.

Dr Nick Orr and his team at Queen’s University Belfast are working to understand the role of certain genetic changes in the development of breast cancer in men and in women. Previously, they found a location on DNA that, when changed, is linked to higher risk of breast cancer. And it seems to have a larger effect in men than in women.

There are no genes in this location on the DNA, so researchers think that this region is responsible for turning other genes on or off. They think that it may be linked to a gene called ZFP36L1. When this gene is turned off, breast cancer cells grow and multiply more rapidly.

Now, Nick would like to investigate exactly what changes in this DNA region influence the activity of the ZFP36L1 gene and how they do that. In the lab, they will make changes to this location on DNA in breast cancer cells to see how this affects the function of the ZFP36L1 gene. The researchers will also look at what other molecules that are known to regulate gene activity are involved in this process. They hope this will explain how these genetic changes can lead to breast cancer in men and women.

Understanding how changes in this region of the DNA are linked to an increased risk of breast cancer will help us understand the similarities and differences between breast cancer in men and women. This could help us develop better ways to prevent the disease and reveal new ways we could treat it.