Breast cancer predisposition and brain hemispheric laterality specification likely share a common genetic cause

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Klar, Amar J. S.

Affiliations: Developmental Genetics Section, Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, MD, USA. E-mail: klara@mail.nih.gov

Abstract: The majority of breast cancer cases seen in women remain unexplained by simple Mendelian genetics. It is generally hypothesized that such non-familial, so-called sporadic cases, result from exposure of the affected individuals to a cancer-causing environment and/or from stochastic cell biological errors. Clearly, adverse environment exposure can cause disease, but is that necessarily the cause of most sporadic cases? Curiously, female breast cancer patients who were selected to prefer right-hand-use reportedly exhibited a higher incidence of reversed-brain hemispheric laterality when compared to that of the public at large. Notably, such a higher level of hemispheric reversal is also found in healthy, left-handed or ambidextrous persons. Based on the association between these disparate traits, a new hypothesis for the etiology of sporadic breast cancer cases is advanced here; breast cancer predisposition and brain laterality development likely share a common genetic cause.

DOI: 10.3233/BD-2010-0318

Journal: Breast Disease, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 49-52, 2012