Study to Track Siblings' Breast Cancer Traits

Jun 19, 05:13 AM

Current Headlines: By Michael O'Connor, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Jun. 19--More than 3,500 Nebraska women with breast cancer are being asked to recruit their sisters to participate in a national study of the disease.

The study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences will examine how environment and genes affect the likelihood of getting breast cancer.

The Nebraska Health and Human Services System sent letters Monday to women with breast cancer whose names are on the Nebraska Cancer Registry.

Assistance with the research, known as the Sister Study, is voluntary. The sisters don't have to be Nebraska residents.

The study will involve sisters of women who have had breast cancer but who do not have it themselves.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women in Nebraska.

Nationally, more than 37,000 women are enrolled in the study, and the goal is to have 50,000.

The study will focus on breast cancer, but the Institute of Environmental Health says the project may help researchers understand the reasons women get heart disease and other types of cancer.

The institute says the Sister Study is the only long-term study in the United States of women ages 35 to 74 with a sister who had breast cancer.

For more information about the study, contact the national Sister Study, toll free, at 877-474-7837 or go to www.sisterstudy.org.

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