Number of skin moles tied to breast cancer risk

Women’s disease increase may reflect higher estrogen levels

SPOTTY RECORD  Lots of skin moles might signal a modest increase in breast cancer risk.

Sergiy Zavgorodny/Shutterstock 

Women who have many moles on their skin are slightly more prone to breast cancer than those without them, two studies find. Skin moles, benign clumps of pigmentation-producing cells called melanocytes, might arise from high levels of hormones in women’s blood, which also could facilitate tumor growth, one of the studies suggests.