1. The relationship between
breast cancer and
diabetes type 2 in women
Crystal María Rivera Pérez
Research Proposal
University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
RISE Summer Bridge
BIOL 3009

2. Introduction
• Recently, people who had or
have cancer develop diabetes
type 2.
• Cancer is the uncontrolled
growth of cells coupled
with malignant behavior.
• A malignant tumor is a group of
cancer cells that can grow into
surrounding tissues or spread to
distant areas of the body.
• A tumor feeds of glucose to
create their acidic environment.
*http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/cancerlibrary/what-is-cancer

3. • Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that
starts in the cells of the breast.
• The female breast is made up mainly
of lobules (milk-producing
glands), ducts (tiny tubes that carry
the milk from the lobules to the
nipple), and stroma (fatty tissue and
connective tissue surrounding the
ducts and lobules, blood vessels, and
lymphatic vessels).
• Most breast cancers begin in the cells
that line the ducts (ductal cancers).
Some begin in the cells that line the
lobules (lobular cancers), while a small
number start in other tissues.
• http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-
cancer-what-is-breast-cancer

4. • Diabetes type 2 is a metabolic
disorder that is characterized by
high blood glucose in the context
of insulin resistance and
relative insulin deficiency
(insufficient production of insulin
from beta cells).
• Insulin is a hormone, produced
by beta cells of the pancreas.
Insulin causes cells in
the liver, skeletal
muscles, and fat tissue to absorb
glucose from the blood.
• http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/

5. Hypothesis
Women who had or have cancer
are more exposed to develop
diabetes type 2 through the
pass of time.

6. Specific Aims
• To establish a percent of how
many women that had or have
cancer develop diabetes type 2.
• To create awareness of the
situation.

7. Methodology
• Study past generations and see if
women that had or have breast cancer
develop diabetes.
• First, study a group of 100 women
living in Cidra that had breast cancer.
Check if they had symptoms or have
diabetes type 2.
• Study another group of 100 women
that have breast cancer. Verify if they
have symptoms or have diabetes type
2.
• Make conclusions.

8. • Cancer is the second cause of
death in the world. Breast cancer
is one of the principal cancers.
• More and more people around the
world suffer from diabetes.
• The union of this two diseases
becomes the death of the human
that suffer from it.
• With the study of this
“relationship”, women around the
world will create awareness and
start watching for their health.
Significance

9. • I expect the results to be positive.
• Give out the statistic data to women
and men.
• If that is the case, I will study why
cancer causes diabetes type 2.
• I will research what is causing the
creation of diabetes type 2; if it
happens before or after
chemotherapy, if the cells make
substances that cause it, if the
cancer cells change the procedures
and environments of other cells.
Expected results and Further Investigations