Studying Early-Adulthood Adiposity and Breast Cancer Risk

WashU Medicine researchers have found that adiposity in early adulthood, as well as weight gain during early adulthood, may have a lifelong impact on breast parenchymal tissue patterns within premenopausal women. Aimilia Gastounioti, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, Adetunji Toriola, MD, PhD, professor of surgery, and collaborators including Debbie Bennett, MD, MIR chief of breast imaging, analyzed screening digital mammograms of 326 premenopausal women to study breast parenchymal complexity, an emerging breast cancer risk biomarker.

A deeper understanding of the pathways through which early-adulthood adiposity modifies the architecture of breast parenchymal tissue patterns, and possibly breast cancer risk, can open new avenues for preventive interventions in premenopausal women.

Read more in Breast Cancer Research.