Sister Study’s Promise

By Steve Vantreese, The Paducah Sun, Ky.

Apr. 2–"I’m alive today because of God and my promise to my sister," Pearl Davis reflects.

Davis, of Metropolis, Ill., knows about breast cancer. Her personal stake against breast cancer makes her a volunteer in a war of information against the foe.

Her younger sister, Carrie Noland of Nashville, Tenn., was diagnosed with it in 2003. While Noland was being treated for the disease that would kill her in 2004, she pressed Davis to get screenings, a Pap smear and a mammogram herself.

Davis, who promised her dying sister that she would have herself checked out, went through with the screenings — and she found that she, too, had breast cancer. A mass was discovered, and she soon had a cancerous lump and two lymph nodes removed, then had radiation and chemotherapy.

Caught in time, Davis avoided becoming another cancer fatality. She was able to receive treatment, arresting the condition soon enough to tell her baby sister that she was going to be OK before the younger sibling succumbed to her own breast cancer.

"Early detection — that’s the thing," Davis said. "We have to get the screenings. We have to do our own self-exams."

Davis found out about a massive research project, the Sister Study, amid her own fight against cancer, that of younger sister Carrie as well as a fight against sarcoidosis by middle sister Edith Joyner, another Tennessean. Joyner heard of the Sister Study from her doctor.

In short, the Sister Study is a longterm project undertaken by medical and scientific researchers for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to study women who have not been diagnosed with breast cancer but have sisters who have.

In a huge data-gathering effort, researchers are recording personal medical and environmental history information on 50,000 women who are cancer-free siblings of women who have had breast cancer. Comparison of details in the lives of the study participants in time is hoped to show, among other things, why some women get breast cancer and some don’t. It is meant to shed light on how genetics and environmental factors may figure into the disease.

Davis, having had breast cancer herself, can’t serve as a study subject, but she has taken the role of a study volunteer to promote it and recruit participants who can provide personal data for evaluation.

"It’s very personal for me, and I honor my sister to spread the word about the study, to speak about it wherever I can and pass it along to others who can participate," Davis said. "It’s a wonderful thing to feel like you’re helping other people."

Davis said there is a special need for more study participants among African-American women. More data from African-American women is necessary because breast cancer affects them differently and most information is based on Caucasian women, she said.

"African-American women get breast cancer earlier than Caucasians," Davis said. "Our breast cancer is more aggressive, more likely to be fatal. We need more women in the study to show the genetic and environmental factors of the disease."

Bio-chemist Paula Juras, Sister Study project officer, said many more women are sought to participate in the program, but enrollment needs are getting more specific now.

"We’re getting close to having 50,000 enrolled, but we’re trying to recruit in specific demographic areas where we need stronger numbers," Juras said from the NIEHS study headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "We’re still enrolling women of color, women with less than a college education and women over age 65."

Juras said there is a particular interest in enrolling some women in the still-sought categories from the Paducah area because of environmental factors, chiefly the longterm presence of the uranium enrichment plant.

"Each woman’s environmental background may be a little different, and those from (the Paducah) area will be somewhat unique," Juras said. "We want to look at those environmental factors to see if they contribute to a genetic predisposition to breast cancer. Ultimately, we want to identify things in the environment that may cause women to get breast cancer."

Juras said previous studies have show that certain geographical areas have higher incidences of breast cancer, and other research shows certain occupations seem to produce higher rates of the cancer. This vast scope of the Sister Study is hoped to better show why, she said.

Researchers say previous studies provide clues into breast cancer that will be taken further by the Sister Study. Among them:

–Breast cancer rates vary over time, as well as geographically

–Identical twins rarely both get breast cancer, suggesting factors other than genetics may influence the disease.

–Many chemicals have been found to cause mammary tumors in animals.

–Lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption, diet and exercise appear linked to breast cancer risks.

–Exposures to radiation, solvents and some pesticides appear to be related to breast cancer incidence rates.

Steve Vantreese can be contacted at 575-8684.

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