Reuters - A single gene appears to play a crucial role in deadly breast cancers, increasing the chances the cancer will spread and making it resistant to chemotherapy, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Reuters - Women with early-stage breast cancer may live longer if they maintain a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy, a new study suggests.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Jan. 1 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that could help doctors fine-tune breast cancer treatments even further, a new study confirms that there are genes that increase the likelihood that the disease will spread throughout a woman's body.

HealthDay - TUESDAY, Dec. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Women with high levels of insulin in their blood appear to be more likely to develop breast cancer than those with lower insulin levels.

Reuters - Data from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study show that higher than normal insulin levels are an independent risk factor for breast cancer.

AP - Hospitals in about a dozen states are testing whether some simple steps, such as arm-strengthening exercises, could reduce the risk of one of breast cancer's troubling legacies — the painful and sometimes severe arm swelling called lymphedema. Lymphedema has long been a neglected side effect of cancer surgery and radiation: Many women say they never were warned, even though spotting this problem early improves outcomes.

AFP - A woman is to give birth this week to the first baby in Britain which has been selected to be free of a gene which greatly increases the risk of breast cancer, experts said.

HealthDay - TUESDAY, Dec. 23 (HealthDay News) -- The war against cancer gathered steam in 2008, as new drugs tackled the toughest cancers with some success, and advances were made in both disease prevention and risk factor identification.

Reuters - Painful swelling of the arm or shoulder area following treatment for breast cancer -- a condition called lymphedema - is more common in women who are overweight or obese than in women of normal weight, researchers have found.

Reuters - Lung cancer has overtaken breast cancer as the biggest killer of Australian women with cancer, as females who started smoking in the 1970s and 1980s as they gained equal rights with men are diagnosed with the deadly disease.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Marriage problems are associated with poorer outcomes for women with breast cancer, a new U.S. study finds.

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Dec. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Spanish researchers have identified anti-cancer chemicals in extra-virgin olive oil that may help explain the apparent link between eating an olive oil-rich Mediterranean diet and a reduced risk of breast cancer.

HealthDay - TUESDAY, Dec. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Examining subnetworks of genetic activity in a patient's tumor better predicts the spread of breast cancer than conventional techniques, researchers say.

Reuters - Adding radiation therapy to standard drug treatment can cut in half the death rate from advanced prostate cancer and should become the standard of care globally, Swedish researchers reported on Monday.

Reuters - Certain breast cancer survivors who load up on fruits and vegetables, eating far more than current U.S. guidelines, can slash their risk the tumors will come back by nearly a third, according to a U.S. study released on Monday.

Reuters - Breast cancer patients who apply moisturizers may be dosing themselves with estrogen without even knowing it, investigators reported at a breast cancer symposium in San Antonio.

AP - Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these still-popular pills.

Reuters - It may be possible to predict which breast cancer patients will be helped by tamoxifen based on changes in so-called breast density, researchers reported on Saturday.

HealthDay - FRIDAY, Dec. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Information patients commonly receive about the risk of their breast cancer returning after surgery may make their decision on whether to get chemotherapy more difficult, a new study concludes.

HealthDay - FRIDAY, Dec. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Taking hormone therapy after menopause is known to increase the risk of getting breast cancer, but women who take hormone therapy and then develop breast cancer have a lower risk of dying from the disease, a new study suggests.