Blog: At risk
“Now we know that women with negative lymph nodes and low levels of BAG-1 are at risk of developing metastatic (secondary) disease and may be good candidates for aggressive cancer treatments,” said Dr Turner.
Studies looking at thousands of women were needed, he added.
Dr Lesley Walker, head of scientific information at the Cancer Research Campaign, said that BAG-1 was known to be present at high levels in 80% of cases where breast cancer has developed.
Finding that low levels of the protein are detrimental to women was, therefore, “counter-intuitive”, she said.
“You wouldn’t expect it because other people have shown that there are high levels of BAG-1 in invasive breast cancer,” she said.
But she added: “I hope the breast cancer community will now follow this up. If it is true, it could be useful.”
Tags: Risk