Although it is much rarer than in women, men can get breast cancer too. Men have breast tissue that is similar to women, and can develop a cancerous tumor in that tissue just as women can. According to the American Cancer Society, male breast cancer accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancers diagnosed each year. It is estimated that in the United States, about 2,650 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2022, and about 530 men will die from the disease. The lifetime risk of breast cancer for men is about 1 in 833, while for women it is about 1 in 8.Because of this rarity, male breast cancer has been understudied. And because men tend to present symptoms to their GP much later, the outcome for men can be worse than women.
Until now, while the disease has been referred to as male breast cancer, it has been treated in an identical manner to breast cancer in women. But what if it really was breast cancer in men?
New Research and a new Theory
Men mostly preferred to call their disease male breast cancer, because they were very often embarrassed to say they had breast cancer. Now, following a comprehensive review of all scientific research into breast cancer in men over the past 20 years, the correct terminology may well be just, breast cancer. A study has identified major differences between the male and female conditions which could have major implications for both treatment and screening. It could also allow men the comfort of owning a unique disease.
The systematic review at the University of Aberdeen consolidated all existing prognostic biomarker data in male breast cancer from 197 publications from five databases spanning genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and epigenetics, and phenotypic features of prognostic value from articles published over a 29-year period (March 16, 1992, to May 1, 2021). Chief researcher and Chair in Molecular Oncology, Professor Valerie Speirs, noted, “From my interactions with men with breast cancer, they are crying out for specific research to be done on the male version of the disease.” Their findings, published in February 2023 in The Lancet Oncology, identified a major difference in the way sex hormones influence male breast cancer. Although both sexes have circulating male and female hormones, males with breast cancer respond to some hormones differently to females. As well, breast tumours from males with breast cancer had higher levels of oestrogen receptors than females with breast cancer.
Future Treatments
Biomarkers, which consist of certain proteins, were more abundant in men with breast cancer, and need further examination so that new treatments could be researched to target them. Molecular subtypes between male and female breast cancer were also found to be distinctive, which bodes well for treatment of men, since different treatments for breast cancer can be tailored for better outcomes for patients. This has worked for female patients, and further research could determine subtypes particular to males. Ethnicity is another field for further study and may determine the reason black men have a 2 to 2.5-fold higher incidence of breast cancer than white men.
Dr. Speirs has been quoted as saying: “From my interactions with men with breast cancer, they are crying out for specific research to be done on the male version of the disease. Our investigation has identified gaps that need to be filled which in the long term which could eventually inform the standard of care, and that’s something that men really want.”
The study concluded: “Our results show that male breast cancer is a heterogeneous and complex condition with striking distinctions from female breast cancer”.
Rod Ritchie