Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California, applied NASA technology in a breast cancer study on microbes that may have been associated with a history of breast cancer. They applied similar analysis and sequencing methods that are used to examine bacteria in spacecraft assembly rooms. The techniques are used to ensure NASA spacecrafts do not contaminate other worlds.
In a first-ever study of microorganisms in human breast ductal fluid, the researchers applied these planetary protection techniques and found differences between ductal fluid bacteria in women who have experienced breast cancer and those who haven’t. The study was the first exploration of a link between breast cancer and breast ductal microbiome.
The researchers studied the substance, “nipple aspirate fluid,” which is naturally secreted  by glands in the breast ductal system, which also produce milk. They found out that breast ductal fluid’s community of microorganisms notably differed between two groups of women, 25 women with a history of breast cancer and treatment and 23 healthy women.
The findings of the new study have set the stage to further analyse the role of microbes in causing or preventing breast cancer. Recent research studies have suggested that microbes contribute to 16 percent or more malignancies worldwide.
