LEGACY: Lessons in Epidemiology and Genetics of Adult Cancer from Youth

From 2011-2016, the National Cancer Institute provided funding to study the growth and pubertal development of girls between the ages of 6 and 13 years, some of whom are the daughters of women enrolled in the Breast Cancer Family Registry.  We are interested in learning how lifestyle, environment, and biology affect the growth and development of young girls and teens and how these factors affect women’s health later in life. The study includes girls with a history of breast cancer in their family, and, for comparison, girls from families without breast cancer. Mothers and daughters were contacted every 6 months for 5 years to collect questionnaire data on many topics, body measurements, optical spectroscopy data, and biospecimen samples.

You can learn more about the study and keep abreast of current activities by visiting the official LEGACY Girls Study website at www.legacygirlsstudy.org.

PAHs and Puberty in Girls at Increased Breast Cancer Risk

In 2016, the California site of the LEGACY Girls Study received funding from the California Breast Cancer Research Program to study the impact of environmental chemicals on pubertal development of girls. Young girls start breast development at increasingly younger ages for reasons that are largely unknown.  There are some data that suggest environmental chemicals may affect the start of pubertal development. We invited LEGACY girls and their mothers or guardians to complete questionnaires on growth and development and exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as consumption of grilled or smoked foods and exposure to cigarette smoke.  Other important sources of PAH exposure are air pollution. We will also measure PAH exposure in the blood and urine obtained from LEGACY girls.

This study is underway and no results are available yet.

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