50,000 sisters of women with breast cancer recruited for U.S. study.

2002 OCT 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At the September 2002 Tampa Bay-area Race for the Cure, medical researchers began recruiting women for a unique effort to determine the causes of breast cancer - the "Sister Study." Researchers hope to eventually enroll 50,000 women volunteers nationally, ages 35 to 74, whose sisters have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Sisters of women with breast cancer are known to be at greater risk of breast cancer - up to twice the risk of other women. By following these sisters for 10 years, the researchers hope to find out why.

Is it genes they shared? A common diet? Early menstruation? A household or environmental chemical? A gene-environment interaction? By means of simple tests and questionnaires, the researchers - from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a part of the federal National Institutes of Health - will look at these and other factors.

The volunteers themselves may gain no medical benefit from the research but, as one of the women involved has said, "Our daughters may."

The first phase of recruiting focused on the Tampa area where recruiters signed up potential volunteers at the Survivors Tent during the September 21 Race for the Cure at Straub Park, in adjacent St. Petersburg. Recruitment continued following the race, taking advantage of volunteers who have agreed to help spread the word about the study, via the Internet and other media.

A similar effort kicked off recruitment in Phoenix, Arizona, at its October 13, 2002, Race for the Cure, then St. Louis, Missouri, and Providence, Rhode Island - selected for their size and geographic, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. The initial recruiting goal for the four cities together is 2000 participants over the next 6-9 months.

Recruiting strategies will be fine-tuned in these cities before the study goes national next year.