The connection between cigarette smoking and a woman's risk of ever developing breast cancer is controversial and research can be found supporting both sides of the debate.

Many experts believe that smoking increases the risk of developing many cancers.

In order to investigate the possibility that women with breast cancer who smoked were more likely to have a more serious form of the disease, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia examined data on 6,162 women with breast cancer over a 36 year period.

The researchers found that about 1 out of 10 patients were smokers when they were diagnosed with breast cancer but no increased risk of advanced breast cancer for patients who smoked was seen.

The researchers say there did not appear to be a difference in the cancers that they presented with based on whether or not they had ever smoked.

Lead researcher Dr. Matthew Abramowitz says while the study does not remark on the the rate of breast cancer or whether women are more likely to get breast cancer if they smoke, it was interesting that smoking did not affect the cancers seen.

Experts say the study results change little as women who smoke still have a one in two chance of being killed by smoking if they don't quit and a one in eight lifetime risk of developing breast cancer.

Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths and is responsible for most cancers of the larynx, mouth, esophagus and bladder; cigarette smoking, is the most preventable cause of death in the United States.

The American Cancer Society says more American women have died from lung cancer than breast cancer since 1987.

Dr. Abramowitz presented the findings at a meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Los Angeles.

effectively target breast cancer cells prevent the spread of breast cancer cells to bone protect bone from osteolysis, which is a type of bone metastasis in which the bone is eaten away by cancer cells.

Although clinical trials of 2ME2 for breast cancer patients have not taken place, other clinical studies of 2ME2 have been conducted. These trials are based on an oral version of 2ME2 to treat primary tumors, but this method has its limitations, as the oral version of 2ME2 is poorly suited to getting into the blood system and reaching tumors. The new Mayo Clinic study resolves this by delivering 2ME2 by injection and in a lower dose -- eight times lower than the comparable oral version used in mouse models.

???We found a complete reduction of tumors in the soft tissue (mammary fat glands) and in tumors in the bone. It targeted and blocked the metastasis from soft tissue to the bone,??? says Merry Jo Oursler, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cell biologist in endocrine research and the senior author of the study.

The researchers caution that although the study's findings are promising, they need to be replicated and tested in clinical trials.

???Our data support the conclusion that 2ME2 could be an important new therapy in the arsenal to fight metastatic breast cancer,??? the researchers write.

The study is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and the Mayo Clinic.

The study's authors also include: Urszula Iwaniec, Ph.D., and Russell Turner, Ph.D., of Oregon State University; Michael Goblirsch and Denis Clohisy, of the University of University of Minnesota Cancer Center; and Anne Vrabel and Ming Ruan, of Mayo Clinic.

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