Introduction: Breast density often slowly decreases as women age, however little is known as to why this is and what the biological mechanisms for this change are.
Methods: This study took biopsies of normal breast tissue from women with known breast density at 2 different time points several years apart and investigated changes in genes.
Results: Women whose breast density had reduced the most over the course of the study showed sustained or higher expression of histone proteins of the H4 family compared to women with a smaller decrease in breast density.
Conclusion: This is the first study of gene expression in two normal breast biopsies from the same healthy individuals taken several years apart. High expression of histone genes has been shown previously to slow down the ageing process in cells as high availability of histone proteins contributes to a tighter chromatin structure. More research is needed to understand the role of histones in breast density changes as women age.
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