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Alcohol and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: an analysis of etiological heterogeneity by multiple tumor characteristics.

ABSTRACT: Alcohol consumption is an established risk factor for breast cancer. Whether associations vary by specific tumor characteristics independent of other characteristics is unclear. We evaluated the association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial cohort (54,562 women aged 55-74 years recruited at 10 US screening centers between 1993 and 2001; median follow-up, 8.9 years; 1,905 invasive breast cancer cases). Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for subtypes defined by histological type and estrogen receptor (ER)/progesterone receptor (PR) status were calculated with standard Cox models. A novel 2-stage Cox model assessed heterogeneity in risk for individual tumor characteristics while adjusting for others. Significant trends across categories of alcohol consumption were observed, with hazard ratios for those consuming 7 or more drinks per week versus never drinkers as follows: for estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) cancer, 1.48 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.19, 1.83); for progesterone receptor-positive (PR+) cancer, 1.64 (95% CI: 1.31, 2.06); for ER+/PR+ cancer, 1.63 (95% CI: 1.30, 2.05); and for mixed ductal/lobular cancer, 2.51 (95% CI: 1.20, 5.24). For ER+ and PR+ cancers, trends were significant for ductal and mixed ductal/lobular types. PR status explained the positive association with ER status (for ER status, Pheterogeneity=0.70 after adjustment for PR status). Alcohol consumption was not associated with all breast cancer subtypes. Future work should emphasize large collaborative studies, precise definition of subtypes, and adjustment for correlated tumor characteristics.

SUBMITTER: Falk RT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4172167 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Alcohol and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: an analysis of etiological heterogeneity by multiple tumor characteristics.

Falk Roni T RT Maas Paige P Schairer Catherine C Chatterjee Nilanjan N Mabie Jerome E JE Cunningham Christopher C Buys Saundra S SS Isaacs Claudine C Ziegler Regina G RG

American journal of epidemiology 20140822 7

Alcohol consumption is an established risk factor for breast cancer. Whether associations vary by specific tumor characteristics independent of other characteristics is unclear. We evaluated the association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial cohort (54,562 women aged 55-74 years recruited at 10 US screening centers between 1993 and 2001; median follow-up, 8.9 years; 1,905 invasive breast cancer cases). Hazard r ...[more]

PMID: 25150269

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Project description:BackgroundEstrogens are recognized causal factors in breast cancer. Interindividual variation in estrogen metabolism may also influence the risk of breast cancer and could provide clues to mechanisms of breast carcinogenesis. Long-standing hypotheses about how estrogen metabolism might influence breast cancer have not been adequately evaluated in epidemiological studies because of the lack of accurate, reproducible, and high-throughput assays for estrogen metabolites.MethodsWe conducted a prospective case-control study nested within the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO). Participants included 277 women who developed invasive breast cancer (case subjects) and 423 matched control subjects; at PLCO baseline, all subjects were aged 55-74 years, postmenopausal and not using hormone therapy, and provided a blood sample. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to measure serum concentrations of 15 estrogens and estrogen metabolites, in unconjugated and conjugated forms, including the parent estrogens, estrone and estradiol, and estrogen metabolites in pathways defined by irreversible hydroxylation at the C-2, C-4, or C-16 positions of the steroid ring. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) approximating risk in highest vs lowest deciles of individual estrogens and estrogen metabolites, estrogens and estrogen metabolites grouped by metabolic pathways, and metabolic pathway ratios using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. All statistical tests were two-sided.ResultsNearly all estrogens, estrogen metabolites, and metabolic pathway groups were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer; the serum concentration of unconjugated estradiol was strongly associated with the risk of breast cancer (HR = 2.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19 to 3.62). No estrogen, estrogen metabolite, or metabolic pathway group remained statistically significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer after adjusting for unconjugated estradiol. The ratio of the 2-hydroxylation pathway to parent estrogens (HR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.51 to 0.87) and the ratio of 4-hydroxylation pathway catechols to 4-hydroxylation pathway methylated catechols (HR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.72) were statistically significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer and remained so after adjustment for unconjugated estradiol.ConclusionsMore extensive 2-hydroxylation of parent estrogens is associated with lower risk, and less extensive methylation of potentially genotoxic 4-hydroxylation pathway catechols is associated with higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

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Alcohol and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: an analysis of etiological heterogeneity by multiple tumor characteristics.

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Alcohol and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: an analysis of etiological heterogeneity by multiple tumor characteristics.

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