WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderRockford Hospitals Team Up for Breast Cancer Study

Rockford Hospitals Team Up for Breast Cancer Study

By Samantha Ptashkin

ROCKFORD- Doctors from all three Rockford hospitals work together on a study that could help identify women at risk for breast cancer. Right now the only way to detect precursors to breast cancer is by looking at genetic changes in breast tissue. This is done through a biopsy. The problem with that is most women don't catch the signs that would prompt them to get a biopsy.

Doctors want to see if they can detect the same genetic changes in the blood stream that they can in breast tissue. "Even though changes are happening in the breast, little bits of DNA, because genes of course are made of DNA, little bits of DNA from the breast can actually get in to the blood stream," says Dr. Kent Hoskins, an oncologist at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center.

Identifying DNA changes in the blood would allow doctors to prescribe medications to a patient before breast cancer develops. "The first step is to develop this thing called a biomarker, which is a marker of a biological process going on in the breast that we would attempt to detect in the bloodstream," says Hoskins.

All three Rockford hospitals will ask women who have a breast biopsy for a blood sample. Over the next year, Rush University in Chicago will check to see if women with positive biopsies have the same genetic changes in their blood, that they have in their breast tissue. "We've had tremendous participation and enthusiasm from all three hospitals and we couldn't do this without that," says Hoskins.

Oncologists say they're several years away from a tool that could be useful for all women at risk for breast cancer, but this study is the first step. If it works, doctors could use a simple blood test to see if a patient might develop breast cancer, rather than looking at things that aren't as reliable like family history or self evaluations.