Current research is showing that a healthy plant-based diet, along with regular physical activity, limiting alcohol, and maintaining a healthy body weight, can reduce breast cancer risk. Further, engineering combined with digital health may unlock a much better way to detect breast cancer.
The National Cancer Institute reports that one in eight women born in the U.S. today will develop breast cancer. Studies have consistently demonstrated that consumption of vegetables, fruits, and soy products, as well as increased fiber intake, is associated with reduced risk of post-menopausal breast cancer. Additionally, the National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Institute for Cancer Research, and other authorities have determined that individuals may reduce their risk of breast cancer incidence and/or mortality by maintaining a healthy body weight, limiting alcohol intake, and having regular physical activity.
Higher screening rates along with treatment advances have reduced breast cancer death rates by 42% in recent decades. However, it remains the second deadliest cancer among women in the United States. A 2025 study found more daily steps were associated with a lower risk of dying from any cause among post-menopausal women with a history of cancer. Women who took 5,000-6,000 steps per day reaped the greatest benefit, reducing their risk of dying by 40%.
Breast cancer vaccines showing promise
Vaccines have long been explored to treat cancer. Olivera Finn, who is a distinguished professor of immunology and surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and her colleagues are evaluating an investigational vaccine that primes the immune system to respond to malignant cells expressing a unique form of the cell surface protein MUC1. This is a protein found in glandular tissue. It is theorized that this type of vaccine may allow the immune system to detect and eradicate malignant cells before they are able to form a tumor.
While MUC1 is found on both normal and malignant cells, the sugar molecules bound to the protein adopt a unique pattern in the precancerous and cancerous cells that form adenocarcinomas. To spare healthy cells, the vaccine developed by Finn and colleagues trains immune cells to recognize MUC1 proteins with these cancer-associated molecular patterns.
The approach has already shown promise for those at high risk of colorectal cancer. Currently, the researchers are testing the vaccine’s potential for preventing progression of DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ). A phase 1 study is currently enrolling postmenopausal patients with newly diagnosed, hormone receptor (HR)-positive DCIS to receive neoadjuvant therapy either with or without the MUC1 vaccine. Tissue samples removed through surgery will be examined to determine if the MUC1 vaccine promoted immune changes to the tumor microenvironment.
This trial is one of many aimed at preventing or intercepting breast cancer with vaccines. At the University of Pennsylvania, a team is evaluating DNA vaccines to prevent breast cancer in BRCA mutation carriers, who have a particularly high risk of the disease. “Testing vaccines in the premalignant and in high-risk settings is feasible, and we would encourage retesting vaccines that have failed in therapeutic settings in a new setting of prevention and interception,” said Finn.
A move toward more personalized care
A first-of-its-kind, clinical trial has shown it’s possible to identify breast cancer survivors who are at higher risk of their cancer coming back due to the presence of dormant cancer cells and to effectively treat those cells with repurposed, existing drugs.
While breast cancer survival continues to improve, thanks to advances in detection and treatment, when breast cancer relapses or returns after initial treatment it is still incurable. For women who relapse, the only option is continuous and indefinite treatment, which cannot eliminate the cancer completely. Some breast cancers, like triple negative and HER2+, recur within a few years, and others like ER+ can recur decades later. Until now, there has not been a way to identify those breast cancer survivors who harbor the dormant cells that lead to recurrence.
In a randomized phase II clinical trial with 51 breast cancer survivors, existing drugs were able to clear dormant tumor cells from 80% of the study participants. The three-year survival rate without any disease recurrence was above 90% in patients who received one drug and 100% for patients who received both study drugs.
“The lingering fear of cancer returning is something that hangs over many breast cancer survivors after they celebrate the end of treatment,” said principal investigator Dr. Angela DeMichele, who is with the University Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “Right now, we just don’t know when or if someone’s cancer will come back.”
Dormant tumor cells continue to lay in wait in some patients after breast cancer treatment. These so-called “sleeper cells” are also referred to as minimal residual disease (MRD). These cells can reactivate years or even decades later. Because they are not “active” cancer cells and can be scattered throughout the body, they do not show up on standard imaging tests that are used to watch for breast cancer recurrence.
It is theorized that this sleeper phase represents an opportunity to intervene and eradicate the dormant tumor cells before they have the chance to come back as aggressive, metastatic disease. Surprisingly, researchers recently discovered that certain drugs that do not work against actively growing cancers can be very effective against these sleeper cells.
“We want to be able to give patients a better option than ‘wait and see’ after they complete breast cancer treatment,” said Dr. DeMichele.
Patching up the problem
Engineering and digital health are being combined to improve breast cancer detection. Researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK have developed a convenient and cost-effective wearable patch to measure subtle temperature changes across the breast. It is hoped that a simple skin patch could in future be used to detect potential abnormalities and cancerous tumors.
Marah Alassaf, who is an inventor at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, created an ultra-thin, flexible, non-invasive patch featuring nine flexible temperature sensors. The patch gently adheres to the skin and maps subtle temperature variations across the breast. Cancer cells often grow and spread rapidly, increasing blood flow and metabolism in the affected area, leading to a slight jump in temperature.
“I designed and fabricated this patch from scratch to conform naturally to the body and provide real-time mapping of subtle temperature variations across the breast surface. While still in early development, the goal is to explore how this low-cost, skin-like sensor patch could help broaden access to screening and complement existing tools,” Alassaf said. “In the long-term, it could support convenient at-home monitoring for higher-risk individuals, such as those with a family history or genetic predisposition.”
Conventional screening methods such as mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are often hindered by high costs, limited accessibility, and patient discomfort. These limitations highlight the urgent need for non-invasive, cost-effective, and accessible technologies to complement existing diagnostic methods.
“Thermal imaging, or thermography, has long been used to detect abnormal heat patterns in the body. However, it typically requires specialized infrared cameras and clinical environments. This is a convenient, non-invasive innovation,” said co-investigator Dr. Faezeh Arab Hassani, who is also with the University of Bristol. “Although still in development stages, the introduction of a temperature-sensing patch has the potential to complement mammography, the current standard for breast cancer screening.”
John Schieszer is an award-winning national journalist and radio and podcast broadcaster of The Medical Minute. He can be reached at medicalminutes@gmail.com.
John Schieszer is an award-winning national journalist and radio and podcast broadcaster of The Medical Minute.
