Obese fathers may increase daughters' breast cancer risk
Published 5 Jul 2016
Lead investigator Sonia de Assis, Ph.D., of the Department of Oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., and colleagues present their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.
After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, with around 246,660 new cases expected to be diagnosed this year.
It is well established that certain changes to genes can influence a woman's breast cancer risk, and around 5-10 percent of these gene changes are inherited.
Previous studies have shown that a woman's lifestyle factors - such as diet and smoking - may lead to gene mutations that can be passed to offspring, and some studies have indicated that maternal obesity can alter genes that could raise a child's risk for breast cancer.
But according to de Assis and colleagues, few studies have investigated how a father's weight may influence the breast cancer risk of future generations.
Paternal obesity affects sperm, raising daughters' breast cancer risk
To address this research gap, the researchers conducted a study in which they fed male mice either a normal diet (the controls) or an obesity-inducing diet, before mating them with normal-weight female mice.
The researchers then analyzed the breast tissue and rates of breast cancer among offspring.
Compared with female pups with normal-weight fathers, those with obese fathers were overweight at birth, had delayed breast tissue development, and were more likely to develop breast cancer.
On analyzing the sperm of the obese fathers, the team found it had an altered microRNA (miRNA) signature - molecular strands that regulate gene expression. The same altered miRNA expression was found in the breast tissue of their female offspring.
Increased birth weight was also identified among male offspring of obese fathers, but the team says the finding was not statistically significant.
Overall, the authors say their findings indicate that miRNAs pass on epigenetic information from obese fathers to their daughters.
The researchers say they now plan to investigate whether their findings apply to humans.
"Until we know about this association in men, we should stick to what we all know is good advice: women - and men - should eat a balanced diet, keep a healthy body weight and lifestyle, not only for their own benefit but also to give their offspring the best chances of being healthy," says de Assis.
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