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Several known factors are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer including increasing age, being overweight after menopause, alcohol intake, and family history. However, the underlying biologic mechanisms through which many of these recognized breast cancer risk factors contribute to onset of disease remains unclear. A new study led by Brock Christensen, PhD, with first author Kevin Johnson, PhD, at Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center provides insight into how changes that occur with age may predispose breast tissue cells to becoming cancerous. Specifically, the Dartmouth study demonstrates that age is the breast cancer risk factor most strongly associated with normal breast DNA methylation differences, and regions in the genome where DNA methylation changes occur with age are particularly sensitive to disruption in cancer. Taken together, this new data provides insight into how epigenetic dysregulation with age in normal breast tissue itself may contribute to breast cancer risk.

See original article at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170720113706.htm