Pathology
An analysis of the Pathological Characteristics of a Proven Epidemiological Cluster of Breast Cancers – ABC Station Patients
Dr Glenn Francis
A statistically highly significant cluster of 13 breast cancer cases has been documented amongst workers at the former ABC studios in Toowong, Brisbane. The nature and causes of breast cancer clusters remain highly controversial. We therefore wish to test the hypothesis that a common aetiological or contributory factor in such cases may be revealed by detailed pathological and molecular analyses of the breast tumour material form these patients.
Thus our aims are to investigate the histologic, phenotypic and genotypic characteristics that include IHC markers of cell surface receptor molecule expression, oncogenes, tumour suppression genes and metastasis suppression genes in tumours from the ABC breast cancer cluster and to compare these parameters with a subset of sporadic cases of breast cancer occurring in Queensland. In particular, two specific question will need to be answered viz:
- Are the tumours from the ABC cluster similar to each other at a statistically significant level?
- Are the tumours from the ABC cluster different of bulk sporadic breast cancers in Queensland i.e. to case matched controls.
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