A team of researchers led by Peter Mac’s Professor Sherene Loi has uncovered how having children and breastfeeding reduces a woman’s long-term risk of breast cancer.
Published in the journal Nature, the study provides a biological explanation for the protective effect of childbearing and shows how this has a lasting impact on a woman’s immune system. Professor Loi says the findings also offer new insights into breast cancer prevention and treatment.
“We found that women who have breastfed have more specialized immune cells, called CD8⁺ T cells, that ‘live’ in the breast tissue for decades after childbirth,” says Prof Loi, who is a clinician scientist.
“These cells act like local guards, ready to attack abnormal cells that might turn into cancer. This protection may have evolved to defend mothers during the vulnerable post-pregnancy period, but today it also lowers breast cancer risk, especially the aggressive type called triple-negative breast cancer.”
Professor Loi says completing a full cycle of pregnancy, breastfeeding, and breast recovery caused these T cells to accumulate in the breast. Their protective effect was confirmed in preclinical experiments.
“When breast cancer cells were introduced, the models with this reproductive history were far better at slowing or stopping tumor growth but only if T cells were present,” she says. “We also studied data from over 1,000 breast cancer patients and found women who breastfed had tumors with higher numbers of these protective T cells and, in some groups, they lived longer after diagnosis of breast cancer.”
While it has been known for some time that having children reduces a woman’s breast cancer risk, the reasons are not yet fully understood and pregnancy-related hormonal changes were thought to be a major factor. This research points instead to immune changes within the breast tissue and understanding this could lead to entirely new approaches to prevent and treat breast cancer.
Every day, approximately 58 Australians will be diagnosed with breast cancer. It is the second most diagnosed cancer in Australia, the most common cancer among women and its incidence is rising in younger women.
Medical Xpress
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