Study Ties Moles to Risk of Breast Cancer

First Posted: Jun 11, 2014 06:12 AM EDT
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A new research identifies moles as new predictors of breast cancer suggesting greater the number of moles higher is the risk of breast cancer.

The collaborative study led by researchers at Indiana University and Harvard University highlights the strong association between cutaneous nevi also called as moles and breast cancer. On evaluating the data retrieved from two large prospective cohorts, the researchers observed that the risk of developing breast cancer was high among those women who had greater number of moles.

The two cohort studies were the Nurses' Health Study, U.S., that included 74,523 female nurses who were followed for 24 years and the E3N Teachers Study Cohort, France, which included 89,902 women who were followed for 18 years.

The participants from the Nurses' Health Study were asked to report the number of nevi they had on their left arm that were more than 3mm during the initial assessment. They noticed that women who reported having more than 15 nevi were nearly 35 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer when compared to the women with no nevi. The risk of developing breast cancer was 8.48 percent among women with no nevi and those with 15 or more nevi the risk was 11.4 percent.

Among postmenopausal women, those with six or more nevi had elevated blood levels of estrogen and testosterone when compared to women with no moles. The link between breast cancer and nevi vanished after adjusting the hormone levels.

In the, E3N study that mostly included teachers, the participants were asked to report whether they had a few, many, very many, or absolutely no moles. The noticed that women with many moles had 13 percent increased risk of breast cancer compared to their counterparts with no moles. 

The research does not say that nevi cause breast cancer but that they are affected by the level of sex hormones in a body which are believed to be a factor in breast cancer. As  the study involved mostly white participants, the finding may not apply to non-white women.

Researchers say, "Additional studies should be carried out to investigate melanocytic nevi and other cutaneous features in association with the risks of breast cancer and other estrogen-related proliferative diseases. It is our hope that this research will provide etiologic insights and test practical uses of nevi and related phenotypes for their potential utility in breast cancer risk assessment."

The study documented in PLOS Medicine.

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