#5078 Background: Breast cancer significantly impacts girls' lives: it affects 1:8 women and directly impacts those most influential in girls' lives (e.g. mothers, friends' mothers, teachers, coaches). Plus, girls are often exposed to powerful media messages meant to raise breast cancer awareness. Our hypothesis is that these factors could generate significant fear and misunderstanding in adolescent and pre-adolescent girls.
 Methods: To better understand the impact of breast cancer fear in girls, the nonprofit organization Breastcancer.org and the Taking Care of Your “Girls” book project, together with the Lankenau Hospital Health Education Center, conducted an in-school online survey in girls ages 8 to 18 years (median 15), prior to the delivery of a Breast Health Assembly in 7 Philadelphia and Atlanta areas schools. 2450 girls attended the assemblies, of which 1709 participated in the survey (about 70% question completion rate).
 Results: In total, 73% of girls had a relative or close acquaintance who had had breast cancer (most often: a friend's mother [49% n=580/1201]). Although only 3.34% (n=40/1196) of girls' mothers had had breast cancer, girls were most fearful of breast cancer affecting their mothers. While only 46% (n=768/1573) thought breast cancer was common in grandmothers, 76% (n=1192/1572) reported it was most common in mothers. Although only 3.35 % (n=53/1580) believed that breast cancer was common in teens, 26% (477/1554) said that they've already feared having breast cancer themselves. The most common triggers for this fear were a misinterpretation of a normal breast finding, a news report on breast cancer, or a new breast cancer diagnosis in someone they knew. Over 20% believed that infection, drug use, stress, and tanning could cause breast cancer; and 10-20% reported their belief that caffeine, getting bumped or bruised in the breast, and antiperspirants could cause it. In addition, 8.5% thought that breast-feeding increased breast cancer risk.
 Discussion: 73% of the girls in this study have one or more women close to them who've had breast cancer and all girls are sensitive to the media. These factors seem to contribute to their fear of the disease and their tendency to overestimate breast cancer risk (in themselves and their mothers). Furthermore, they were un- or misinformed about true breast cancer risk factors and effective breast health measures. The impact of a girl's unrealistic fear of breast cancer is unknown. We are concerned that it may deter rather than motivate healthy behaviors. Breast health programs are necessary to replace fear and inaccurate information with facts and reassurance. These results might be useful in the design of education and intervention strategies to improve psychological wellbeing and the achievement of long-term public health goals. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 5078.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. The metabolism of iron is closely regulated by hepcidin which exerts its action by interacting with a ferroportin.  The aim of the present study was to assess the alterations in the levels of some serum biomarkers that have a role in iron homeostasis (hepcidin and ferroportin) in addition to hematological parameters (hemoglobin, leukocyte and platelets count) in different stages of BC. This study included 66 women with BC. The patients were categorized as follows : group 1 includes :22 patients with stage I disease ,group 2 includes: 22 patients with stage II disease ,and group 3 include: 22 patients with stage III disease .Group 4 includes :22 apparently healthy women as control. Data analysis revealed a significant elevation of serum hepcidin levels of patients groups 1, 2, and 3 (437.2±26.4, 501.4±31.8 and 558.5±21.3 pg/ml respectively) ,vs  (179.4±19.8 pg/ml) of control, with  steady elevations from stage I to III . Furthermore, serum ferroportin levels were significantly lowered in groups 1 and 3 compared to control  (0.589±0.107  and 0.733±0.1 vs 1.37±0.28 ng/ml respectively).While  blood hemoglobin level of group 3 were lower (11.96±0.18 vs  12.7±0.13g/dl ) compared with controls . Blood leukocyte count of patients (all groups) (7.39±0.28 ,8.93±0.48,9.86±0.52 (^103/µl) respectively) were markedly increased compared to controls (6.06±0.23), while mean platelet count for patients in group 2&3 were significantly increased compared to controls  (313.9±19.3,309.2±25.3 vs 233.3±9.1 respectively). In conclusion, hepcidin, ferroportin and hematological markers including hemoglobin, WBC count and platelets count are altered in women with BC compared to healthy control. The changes occur mostly in accordance with disease stages.