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An international team of scientists has found that a lactation drug could reduce the risk of breast cancer in mothers after childbirth. Cabergoline, a medication used to stop milk production after pregnancy loss or when breastfeeding is not possible, is generally well tolerated by patients with few side effects. But it may also offer unexpected benefits.

The study, published in Cancer Discovery, analyzed health records from Spain and Norway, including more than 150,000 women with information on whether they had used cabergoline.

Women who had the medication to suppress milk production were around 70% less likely to develop breast cancer in the years that followed, compared with those who did not receive cabergoline.

This finding mirrored what the researchers found in mice. They tested a single dose of cabergoline in mice carrying BRCA1 and TP53 mutations, which are associated with aggressive forms of breast cancer, and tumor incidence rates fell by about half.

"Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death among younger women, and the majority of these cancers occur during the years after pregnancy," said study co-lead Dr. Christopher Maxwell, professor in UBC's faculty of medicine and investigator at BC Children's Hospital Research Institute.

"This is particularly true for women at high risk of breast cancer.

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