Urgent message for the sisters of breast cancer patients

An urgent call has been issued asking for more participants for a large-scale breast cancer research project called The Sister Study. Breast cancer is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The Sister Study hopes to shed more light on which factors affect which women, and the ways in which genes and environmental factors may interact to affect a woman's chances of developing breast cancer.

The Sister Study is seeking to enroll 50,000 women who are the sisters of breast cancer patients, ages 35-74, who have not had breast cancer themselves. The research team is looking for women from all races and ethnic groups, and from all walks of life.

Sisters of breast cancer patients who volunteer for the study will be sent a Sister Study Kit through the mail. The kit contains study information, questionnaires, and material to use to collect urine, toenail, and household dust samples. Participants will be followed for a period of ten years with questionnaire or telephone interview every other year. There is no cost for participation.

The only requirements for joining this study:

• Your sister, related to you by blood, had breast cancer.
• You are between the ages of 35 and 74.
• You have never had breast cancer yourself.
• You are a woman living in the U.S. or Puerto Rico.

To join the study, click here -- or phone this toll-free number: 1-877-4SISTER (1-877-474-7837).

The Sister Study is being led by Dr. Dale Sandler and her colleagues from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which is a unit of the National Institutes of Health. A number of well-known cancer research foundations are acting as partners for The Sister Study.

For more information, visit The Sister Study website. And please pass along information about this very important research project to anyone you know who is the sister of a breast cancer patient.