Donor-funded research looking for genetic targets to decrease treatment-induced infertility and early menopause

Roswellness Online Exclusive, August 2007

Just two weeks after her wedding, Melissa Cianfrini found out she had breast cancer. The young attorney and her husband, Michael, were living in Pittsburgh at the time, but when she came to Roswell Park for a second opinion, “I was so impressed with the facilities and the knowledge level of the doctors here that I decided to transfer my care,” she says.

Today, preparing to mark her fifth cancer-free year, Melissa has special reason to celebrate: she’s the mother of two-year-old Sophia and seven-month-old Jack.

That happy outcome often hangs in the balance for young women who develop breast cancer. While ongoing progress in cancer medicine means that most of those patients can expect long-term survival, their cancer treatment may result in the permanent interruption of the menstrual cycle. This effect may lead to early menopause, making pregnancy unlikely.

Tracey O’Connor, MD, Staff Physician in the Roswell Park Department of Medicine, says that the risk of treatment-induced infertility can be affected by the patient’s age, the kinds of drugs used and the dosage given, but genetic characteristics may also be at work.

With a grant from the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, she’s leading a pilot study aimed at identifying inherited traits that might help predict how a patient’s fertility could be affected by a specific cancer treatment. That information “would provide breast cancer patients under the age of 40 with crucial information regarding their treatment options,” O’Connor explains.

“Many young women hope to have biological children following the treatment of their breast cancer,” says O’Connor. “This research reflects Roswell Park’s drive not only to help patients beat cancer but to give them every advantage for leading rich and happy lives over the long term.”

###