Identification of Breast Cancer-Associated Lipids in Scalp Hair
January 2012
in “
Breast cancer
”
TLDR Breast cancer may be detectable through changes in scalp hair lipids.
Researchers found a correlation between breast cancer and changes in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of scalp hair, with XRD-based assays detecting about 75% of breast cancer patients in blinded studies. The study suggested that these changes were likely due to breast cancer-associated phospholipids in the hair. Identifying and characterizing these lipids could lead to a new, sensitive, and specific screening test for breast cancer, initially using hair and potentially other biological samples.
