An unhealthy gut triggers changes in normal breast tissue that helps breast cancer spread to other parts of the body, new research from UVA Cancer Center reveals.
The gut microbiome—the collection of microbes that naturally live inside us—can be disrupted by poor diet, long-term antibiotic use, obesity or other factors. When this happens, the ailing microbiome reprograms important immune cells in healthy breast tissue, called mast cells, to facilitate cancer’s spread, UVA Health’s new discovery shows.
The finding could help scientists develop ways to keep breast cancer from metastasizing (spreading to other parts of the body). When it does, it is often deadly: Only 29% of women with metastatic breast cancer survive five years; for men with metastatic breast cancer, that figure is just 22%.
Read more of the original article from MedicalXpress
