Stem cells used for ’natural’ boob jobs
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Stem cells, which have the potential to change into any cells in the body, are found in embryos, but the most plentiful supply in adults is from body fat. When body fat is transferred to the breasts, the stem cells enable the fat to grow its own blood supply, thus becoming an integral part of the breast rather than a foreign object.
Dozens of women in Japan have received the enlargements during trials. This month, German authorities gave approval to the process. Under EU rules, this means that the procedure is now legal throughout Europe, including Britain.
But Australian women may have to wait for the procedure to become widely available because of litigation concerns.
Michael Zacharia, president of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery, said the technique could make the detection of subsequent breast cancer more difficult.
While the procedure "gives a very nice natural result", he said it could be hard to determine whether changes occurring in a breast were as a result of cancer or the fat transfer.
"Medical insurance companies just refuse to cover it," he said.
In a separate development, scientists have unearthed a genetic mutation that gives one in four women a small shield against breast cancer.
This is the first concrete discovery of a common gene linked to the disease, and is the biggest breast cancer find since two rare and high-risk genes were identified a decade ago.
Australian researchers contributed to the international study which found a genetic variation that gives some women a 10 per cent reduced risk of breast cancer.
Everyone has the gene, called Caspase 8, but 25 per cent of women of European descent have a mutated variation which gives them a little protection. And 2 per cent have two variations, giving them twice the defence.
Leader of the Australian research arm, Georgia Chenevix-Trench from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, said confirmation of a low-risk gene for breast cancer was significant.
It has no immediate implications for women already diagnosed with breast cancer, but Dr Chenevix-Trench said researchers expected to unearth similar genes which women could eventually be screened for.
"After that we can start to think about testing protocols to see whether it's worth identifying women who have multiple variants," Dr Chenevix-Trench said.
The results are published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Additional reporting:
AAP, The Times
February 12, 2007 09:06am
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21210441-36398,00.html
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