Estrogen can switch on breast cancer gene

BRISBANE, Australia, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Researchers in Australia have found the female sex hormone estrogen can turn on a gene linked to breast cancer.

The cancer biology team from the University of Queensland's Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine in Brisbane believe the finding helps explain the link between breast cancer, the gene known as MYB, and high levels of estrogen.

"The ability of estrogen to switch this gene on is important for the growth of breast cancer cells," research team leader Tom Gonda said in a statement. "What's important in breast cancer is the ability of estrogen to turn on MYB rather than there being a mutation in the gene itself."

The gene MYB is found in about 70 percent of all breast cancers and is one of several dozen genes called oncogenes that promote cancer growth.

The University of Queensland's team worked with researchers in Melbourne, Adelaide and the United States. The findings are being published in Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences.

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