Age vs Cancer

Older women are more likely to get breast cancer. But why? Researchers investigate in the cells that most often become cancerous in the breast: luminal epithelial cells and myoepithelial cells. They analysed gene activity in these cells, which were collected from the breast tissue (pictured via fluorescence microscopy) of healthy pre- and post-menopausal women. They found age-related changes in older women in both luminal (green) and myoepithelial (red) cells. These changes in gene activity occurred in genes that help cells maintain their identity and function – aspects of a cell that go awry in cancer. In the luminal cells of older women, they also found changes in the activity of genes specifically linked to cancer. With more research, these insights could help identify women at greater risk of developing age-related breast cancer.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Rosalyn W Sayaman and Masaru Miyano, and colleagues
• City of Hope, Department of Population Sciences, Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, CA, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, November 2024