Grant: Op. Grant: NWHRI: Innovation Fund - Translational Research

According to the World Health Organization, more than 2.3 million new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed worldwide in 2020. Globally, breast cancer is responsible for one in six cancer deaths among women, or 685,000 deaths in 2020. The incidence of breast cancer in young women is rising, and breast cancer has become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women. In Canada in 2022, 25 % of new cancer cases in women were breast cancer. The benefits of breast cancer screening are seen when detection takes place at an early stage. Early identification and diagnosis considerably increase the chances of survival. Screening mammography has been shown to reduce the rate of advanced stage breast cancers by 25% and therefore reduce breast cancer mortality by 41% in screened women aged 40-69 years. Although mammography is often used, it is not without its faults, and biopsy, even when necessary, can have significant side effects. The diagnosis process can also generate anxiety and distress that can persist for months and even years for some women. In the United States, 24% of women undergoing regular mammography have had at least one false positive over a 10-year period. To promote women's physical and mental health, we want to introduce a new biomarker into the screening strategy. Discovered in 1997, klotho is considered as an anti-inflammatory molecule. Our working hypothesis is that klotho serology could be increased in the presence of a malignant breast mass and could be used as a novel biomarker in the breast cancer screening algorithm. From an economic point of view, each false-positive test generates additional costs for the healthcare system, as well as indirect costs such as absenteeism from work, misuse of resources and additional pressure on medical staff. And let's not forget the side effects experienced by women. By adding klotho to the algorithm currently used by doctors, this study aims to reduce false-positives results.