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. 2022 Apr 18;20(1):118.
doi: 10.1186/s12916-022-02319-y.

Circulating inflammatory biomarkers, adipokines and breast cancer risk-a case-control study nested within the EPIC cohort

Manon Cairat  1 , Sabina Rinaldi  1 , Anne-Sophie Navionis  1 , Isabelle Romieu  2 , Carine Biessy  1 , Vivian Viallon  1 , Anja Olsen  3   4 , Anne Tjønneland  3   5 , Agnès Fournier  6 , Gianluca Severi  6   7 , Marina Kvaskoff  6 , Renée T Fortner  8 , Rudolf Kaaks  8 , Krasimira Aleksandrova  9   10 , Matthias B Schulze  11   12 , Giovanna Masala  13 , Rosario Tumino  14 , Sabina Sieri  15 , Chiara Grasso  16 , Amalia Mattiello  17 , Inger T Gram  18 , Karina Standahl Olsen  18 , Antonio Agudo  19   20 , Pilar Amiano Etxezarreta  21   22   23 , Maria-Jose Sánchez  23   24   25   26 , Carmen Santiuste  23   27 , Aurelio Barricarte  23   28   29 , Evelyn Monninkhof  30 , Anouk E Hiensch  30 , David Muller  31 , Melissa A Merritt  31   32 , Ruth C Travis  33 , Elisabete Weiderpass  1 , Marc J Gunter  1 , Laure Dossus  34
Affiliations

Circulating inflammatory biomarkers, adipokines and breast cancer risk-a case-control study nested within the EPIC cohort

Manon Cairat et al. BMC Med. .

Abstract

Background: Inflammation has been hypothesized to play a role in the development and progression of breast cancer and might differently impact breast cancer risk among pre and postmenopausal women. We performed a nested case-control study to examine whether pre-diagnostic circulating concentrations of adiponectin, leptin, c-reactive protein (CRP), tumour necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ and 6 interleukins were associated with breast cancer risk, overall and by menopausal status.

Methods: Pre-diagnostic levels of inflammatory biomarkers were measured in plasma from 1558 case-control pairs from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) of breast cancer at blood collection, per one standard deviation increase in biomarker concentration.

Results: Cases were diagnosed at a mean age of 61.4 years on average 8.6 years after blood collection. No statistically significant association was observed between inflammatory markers and breast cancer risk overall. In premenopausal women, borderline significant inverse associations were observed for leptin, leptin-to-adiponectin ratio and CRP [OR= 0.89 (0.77-1.03), OR= 0.88 (0.76-1.01) and OR= 0.87 (0.75-1.01), respectively] while positive associations were observed among postmenopausal women [OR= 1.16 (1.05-1.29), OR= 1.11 (1.01-1.23), OR= 1.10 (0.99-1.22), respectively]. Adjustment for BMI strengthened the estimates in premenopausal women [leptin: OR = 0.83 (0.68-1.00), leptin-to-adiponectin ratio: OR = 0.80 (0.66-0.97), CRP: OR = 0.85 (0.72-1.00)] but attenuated the estimates in postmenopausal women [leptin: OR = 1.09 (0.96-1.24), leptin-to-adiponectin ratio: OR = 1.02 (0.89-1.16), CRP: OR = 1.04 (0.92-1.16)].

Conclusions: Associations between CRP, leptin and leptin-to-adiponectin ratio with breast cancer risk may represent the dual effect of obesity by menopausal status although this deserves further investigation.

Keywords: Anthropometry; Biomarkers; Breast cancer; Inflammation; Menopausal status.

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Conflict of interest statement

Marc J. Gunter is a member of the editorial board for BMC Medicine. The other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

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