DIFFERENCES in hair structure could lead to a new screening test for breast
cancer, say scientists in Australia.
A team led by Veronica James of the University of New South Wales in Sydney
has found that the X-ray diffraction patterns of hairs from women with breast
cancer are different from the patterns of hairs from healthy women. The same
telltale pattern occurred in hair from women who did not have cancer but carried
a mutation of the BRCA1 gene known to increase the risk of contracting
the disease (Nature, vol 398, p 33).
The researchers believe the patterns鈥攚hich arise from differences in
the way molecules are organised within the hairs鈥攔eflect differences in
the cell membrane as the hair develops in the follicle.
