Breakthrough Made in Breast Cancer Regenerative Medicine

Tokyo, March 20 (Jiji Press)--Japanese researchers have achieved a major breakthrough in regenerative medicine for breast cancer patients, Jiji Press learned. The researchers succeeded in having breast cancer patients recover what was lost after breast-conserving surgery, an operation to remove breast cancer not breast itself, by transplanting fat mixed with their own stem cells. The achievement was made by a team of researchers led by Bin Nakayama, associate professor at Tottori University, during clinical testing conducted between September and January on five women, aged between 30 and 60, who underwent breast-conserving surgery. Under the tests, fat, taken out of the patients' abdomen or hips and mixed with their stem cells, was transplanted into where tumors and surrounding tissues were removed. If only fat is transplanted, most of it is absorbed into the body and just about 30 pct of it remains, because it does not have blood vessels, according to the researchers. Under the tests, 70-90 pct of transplanted fat remained after blood vessels were newly formed in the fat, according to the researchers. Stem cells are apparently capable of helping bring blood vessels into fat from surrounding tissues, the researchers said. In Japan, about 60,000 people develop breast cancer a year, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. Of them, 60 pct undergo breast-conserving surgery, according to the Japanese Breast Cancer Society. END