Exploring Reproductive Factors and Gut Microbiome in Benign Breast Disease

Newswise — New Brunswick, N.J., March 7, 2024 —  Tengteng Wang, PhD, MSPH, MBBS, cancer epidemiologist in the Section of Cancer Epidemiology and Health Outcomes at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, has received more than $700,000 from the National Cancer Institute (R00CA267557) to support her research on examining the association between reproductive factors, gut microbiome, and benign breast disease (BBD).  Rutgers Cancer Institute together with RWJBarnabas Health is the state’s leading cancer program and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Approximately one out of every five women in the United States has been diagnosed with BBD, a important risk indicator for subsequent breast cancer. BBD shares the hormonal/reproductive-related risk factors with breast cancer, however, the underlying mechanisms linking hormone factors and breast disease are unclear.  Dr. Wang is leading the first prospective study to examine the association between reproductive factors, gut microbiome, and BBD based on innovative shotgun metagenomics and metabolomics profiling data. This project will identify novel gut microbial and metabolomic markers that can advance future risk prediction of BBD, and inform more effective microbiome-based interventions aimed at BBD risk reduction among high-risk women defined by their reproductive history profiles. This work will ultimately help reduce the growing burden of BBD and breast cancer-associated morbidity and mortality. 

The project period is 3 years.