Better choices of contraceptives can prevent breast cancer, studies say

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (also known as Ecole Polytechnique federale de Lausanne-EPFL) are conducting a new study on the distinct biological effects of various progestins on the breast that have been found to be related to contraception. Led breast cancer This can be prevented by making more informed choices about the composition of contraceptives.

Hormonal contraceptives such as pills, patches, and vaginal rings stop ovulation, change cervical mucus to prevent sperm from passing through the cervix and finding eggs, or change the lining of the uterus to prevent it. It contains synthetic hormones that prevent pregnancy by preventing fertilized eggs from being embedded in it.

Although hormonal contraceptives are widely used, they are known to increase the risk of breast cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide, and were most commonly diagnosed in 2020. It also became the top of the list of cancers.

The main component of hormonal contraceptives is progestin, which mimics the female sex hormone progesterone. Progesterone is involved in many biological processes, including various aspects of fetal development such as the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and brain programming.

Currently, a team of scientists led by Professor Cathrin Brisken of the EPFL’s Faculty of Life Sciences is thoroughly examining the various biological effects of various hormonal contraceptive progestins on breast tissue (mammary epithelium). This work has been published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.

“We know how different contraceptives affect the cardiovascular system, but little is known about their effects on the breast,” says Brisken. “So we have developed a new approach to compare the most commonly used progestins in various hormonal contraceptives, some of which stimulate cell proliferation in the breast, but others do not. I was surprised. “

Researchers have tested the effects of long-term exposure to various progestins on human breast epithelial cells or HBEC that line the lining of the breast. To do this, they “humanized” by transplanting udder epithelial cells from human breast tissue provided from reduced breast plasty samples into the animal ducts and monitoring their growth in vivo. Developed a mouse mammary gland.

“HBEC engrafts and proliferates in the lactiferous ducts of mice and maintains hormone receptor expression and hormone responsiveness, which establish relevant preclinical models and thereby facilitate translational research. It’s an important factor for this, “says Brisken.

The team found that it was their “androgenic properties” that distinguish between stimulant progestins and harmless progestins. It is a terminology for substances that cause the development of male characteristics such as hair and muscle mass. This is not as strange as it sounds. : Progesterone, primarily known as the female hormone, is used in the production of the male hormone testosterone, which is well known in both women and men.

Some progestins have androgenic properties that act like testosterone. Some actually block them. Important is a protein known as the androgen receptor, which, when activated by the androgen receptor, migrates to the cell’s nucleus and regulates the expression of specific genes.

Using mouse model epithelial cells, researchers found that the androgen receptor acts via the androgen receptor to induce expression of the protein Rank 1, which plays an important role in cell proliferation of the mammary gland epithelium. .. This effect was not seen with antiandrogenic progestin.

This study showed that androgenic (non-antiandrogenic) progestin promotes cell proliferation. “Long-term exposure of human breast epithelium to androgenic progestin caused overgrowth and alteration of cells associated with early precancerous lesions, at least in xenografted human breast epithelium,” said De Martino. I will.

“Hormonal contraceptives expose women to a variety of progestins, with or without estrogen,” says Brisken. “The androgen properties of progestin determine their biological activity in the breast epithelium and reveal the unexpected role of androgen receptor activity in the proliferation of breast epithelial cells.”

An important insight into this study is that progestin, which has antiandrogenic activity, breast cancer It is more risky than testosterone-related compounds, such as the widely used contraceptive levonorgestrel (“Plan B”). “May be preventable breast cancer It is related to contraception by taking into account the molecular composition of the contraceptive and making more informed choices, “Brisken concludes.

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