Two years follow-up study of lymphedema risk factor in breast cancer survivors

Lymphedema –one of side effect from breast cancer surgery and radiation therapy- is influenced by many factors such as genetic factor, obesity, fat intake in dietary food, and medical reason. Previous studies has found that FOXC2 and VEGF-C are some genes that caused primary lymphedema. In this research we aim to investigate for genes and dietary pattern that affect lymphedema occurrence.

Our patients target are breast cancer surgery patients and we will do the observation for 2 years. We have 2 factors for this study which are genetic factors and dietary analysis. For genetic factors, we will determine the expression level of some genes such as VEGF-C, VEGFR, ApoE, SIRT1. For instance, we will also investigate ApoE genotype and analyze dietary pattern that related with lipid metabolism. The reason we decided to look for ApoE genotype is because our previous result that showed relation between ApoE and lymphedema occurrence in breast cancer patients. ApoE itself showed to affect lipid metabolism. Through this project we aim to get better understanding about genes and dietary pattern or food that correlate with lymphedema occurrence.

Fuzikawa, Alberto Kazuo, et al. "Association of ApoE polymorphisms with prevalent hypertension in 1406 older adults: the Bambui Health Aging Study (BHAS)." Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research 41.2 (2008): 89-94.