One out of every ten women develops breast cancer, and it is the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 35-50 in the United States. In some Asian countries, the incidence of breast cancer is much lower than in the U.S., which may be due to their dietary practice. Dietary fat has been linked with the increased risk of breast, colon and prostate cancers. Epidemiologists have estimated that 75% of all cancer deaths can be avoided in the United States by early detection of neoplasms. Currently, mammography is recommended for the early detection of breast cancer; however, more than 60% of women over 40 have never had a mammogram. Chromosomal deletions at various locations in different types of cancer have been reported and include 17pl2-l7pl3.3 (breast, brain, colon, lung); 5q and 18q (colon); and 11p (Wilms' tumor). Novel genes from a few of these regions have been isolated, which also led to the identification of p53 as a suppressor gene, and a target of deletions or mutations in colon, breast or lung cancer. p53 is a nuclear phosphoprotein that is expressed at very low levels in normal cells, whereas the transformed cells contain mutated p53 at extremely high levels. Inactivation or mutation in p53 protein is associated with a variety of neoplasia. In order to study the role of p53 in breast cancer, we studied a large number of tumors and normal tissue for point mutations and inactivation of the p53 gene. Since early detection is very important in the treatment of cancer, we have initiated a program to clone novel breast tumor-specific markers, as well as study the expression of known markers to detect asymptomatic neoplasms.
