Matthew Kundis

BIO 1610

Section: 31

Breast Cancer Research

For my research paper on a biological medical condition, I decided to
research breast cancer. Lets start out with some simple background on
breast cancer. I was amazed to find out that the first mention of any kind of
cancer was actually a case of breast cancer documented around 1600 B.C. in
Egypt. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, which is an ancient text found in 1860
inside an Egyptian tomb, described eight instances of tumors of the breast.
Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases a human can develop. Breast cancer
specifically, caught my attention due to this one very startling statistic;
About 1 in 8 U.S. women (12%) will develop breast cancer over the course of
her lifetime. You can look at that statistic and think that 12% isnt really that
bad, but in my perspective that is extremely common when it refers to a very
dangerous invasive cancer. Men can develop breast cancer, but it is
extremely rare. The American Cancer Society recently published this
statement, In 2016, an estimated 246,660 new cases of invasive breast
cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with
61,000 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. Clearly, this cancer
deserves to be talked about and hopefully will be cured in the near future.
To start off, lets look at what happens on the cellular level when a
woman develops breast cancer. In our textbook on page 202, cancer is
described as The unrestrained, uncontrolled growth of cells in humans. In
essence, this is a disease of our cell division where they can no longer

Matthew Kundis

BIO 1610

Section: 31

control cell division. Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal

changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and
keeping them healthy. There are two different types of cancerous tumor that
can develop when the p53 gene is mutated and no longer regulates its own
cell division. There are tumors that are considered benign, and tumors that
are considered malignant. The cells in benign tumors grow slowly and do not
invade nearby cell tissues. However, a malignant tumors cells grow rapidly
and spread to other parts of the body, this is what makes them so dangerous
for the host. The term breast cancer refers to a malignant tumor that has
developed in the cells of the breast. So unfortunately, we are dealing with
the bad kind as you could guess.
There are different stages of breast cancer. It starts with stage 0 breast
cancer, which means the cancerous cells are still just inside the breast. Next
are the stages 1A and 1B which is when the first tumor actually starts to
develop. The next stages are 2A and 2B, this is where the tumor actually has
developed to at least 2cm in diameter. After those stages comes the
dangerous stages where hopefully the host has found out that they have
breast cancer already; stages 3A, 3B,3C and of course stage 4 breast cancer.
During these stages a tumor should easily be detected with a mammogram
which we will discuss later. Throughout stages 3B and 3C the tumor begins to
metastasize inside the breast. This simply means the tumor is still growing,
but other cells have moved to new tissue in the breast. The dangers of this
specifically are the lymph nodes, which are the first path out of the breasts

Matthew Kundis

BIO 1610

Section: 31

for the spreading cancer. Stage 4 breast cancer means the cancer has spread
through the lymph nodes into the rest of the body, and has actually begun to
metastasize those sites around the body as well. If breast cancer hasnt been
caught by stage 4, it unfortunately usually results in death. Lets look at
some of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and how your body could
function just fine during the early stages of breast cancer development.
The most common sign of breast cancer according to Healthline, is
simply a painless bump (tumor) in the breast. The host should be able to feel
an abnormality, if they examine their breasts regularly. Some other
symptoms that would occur if the bump was not discovered would be things
like swelling of the breast, skin irritation, pain in the nipple or nipple
retraction (turning inward), and or nipple discharge that is not breast milk. If
you didnt notice some of these symptoms it can be very easy to miss breast
cancer altogether. It can be greatly beneficial to the host if they can detect
the breast cancer early on. Now that we have figured out the important
things to know about breast cancer, lets look at some of the ways we can
treat this condition and live a normal life.
Breast cancer can be caught at an early stage with the medical
technology of today. A mammogram, is a technique using x-rays to scan
the breasts and locate any early on tumors. This is why I mentioned how
important it is to regularly have mammograms. Now, this doesnt mean go
and get a mammogram every single 6 months. Although modern x-ray
machines are using less and less radiation while getting better images, you

Matthew Kundis

BIO 1610

Section: 31

are still being exposed to a light amount of radiation. Any exposure to

radiation simply increases the chances of cancer cells developing, which is
why every 6 months is not very logical. The American Mayo Foundation
recommends that women between the ages of 42 and 65 get mammograms
every two years. If you are above the age of 65 they recommend getting a
mammogram annually. This is because as you age, you increase the risk of
cancer developing because of all the cell division that has happened inside
your body. Mammograms simply can just identify the cancer, so how can we
fight it? The best treatment for breast cancer is simply surgery. If the cancer
has not spread to the lymph nodes yet, the best option is to simply remove
the affected areas of the breast. You might have remembered hearing about
Angelina Jolie, getting her breasts removed because a genetic test showed
she was at a high risk of developing breast cancer. Although that may seem
drastic, it can affectively eliminate a high risk of breast cancer. You might
think that losing your breasts would be terrible, but with todays plastic
surgery, it can go almost unnoticed. The next best treatment if surgery is not
an option due to the spread of the cancer, is radiation therapy and
chemotherapy. Radiation therapy uses high amounts of radiation in isolated
areas to affectively kill the cancer cells. Chemotherapy, uses the
administration of harsh chemicals that also kill cancer cells. Although both of
these treatments can kill the cancerous cells, the con of this treatment is
that it also ends up killing some good cells that are healthy in your body. This
is why they are developing more accurate and precise radiation machines to

Matthew Kundis

BIO 1610

Section: 31

combat cancer cells. When going through chemotherapy or radiation therapy

there are a lot of side effects, such as fatigue, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting,
burning, shaking, and some blood disorders can occur. Obviously these
treatments are not an easy road, but they have been shown to drastically
increase the chances of beating the all too common breast cancer.
When thinking about breast cancer specifically, I cannot relate to it
because no one that I know personally has had breast cancer. I have
however, had cancer affect my Nana who passed away almost three years
ago due to ovarian cancer. I agree with my biology teacher in that everyone
probably knows someone who has been affected by cancer. It is a terrible
disease that you would think our modern medical world should have already
developed a cure for. There is no shortage of people trying to find a cure as
cancer affects all of us. I believe personally that we are not that far from
getting at least a dramatically more useful treatment with less side effects.
Hopefully, the world can put their resources together and truly discover a
cure to beat the awful disease we all know as cancer. We now know all about
breast cancer, and how to find out if you have it. We also know what to do if
breast cancer is found in the body. Now all we have to do is figure out a way
to make cancer irrelevant, and I truly believe we are not too far away from
this result.

Matthew Kundis

BIO 1610

Section: 31

My Citations (MLA Format)

Mason, Kenneth A., Jonathan B. Losos, Susan R. Singer, Peter H. Raven,
and George B. Johnson. Biology: Evolution, Diversity and Ecology: Selected
Materials from Biology, 10th Edition. 10th ed. Print.
Algernon, Dr. Jason. "Side Effects of Chemotherapy." Cancer.Net. 2012.
Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancertreated/chemotherapy/side-effects-chemotherapy>.
"U.S. Breast Cancer Statistics | Breastcancer.org." Breastcancer.org.
American Cancer Society. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Ormseth, Alex. "ncbi.nlm.nih.org." Clinicopathological Significance of
Dual-Specificity Protein Phosphatase 4 Expression in Invasive Ductal Carcinoma
of the Breast 8.1 (2015).Clinicopathological Cancers. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
<ncbi.nlm.nih.org>.