Osteoprotegerin and breast cancer risk by hormone receptor subtype: a nested case-control study in the EPIC cohort
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Biomed Central
Materia
Breast cancer Osteoprotegerin RANK axis Hormone receptor Estrogen receptor Progesterone receptor
Date
2017Referencia bibliográfica
Fortner, R. T.; et al. Osteoprotegerin and breast cancer risk by hormone receptor subtype: a nested case-control study in the EPIC cohort. BMC Medicine, 15: 26 (2017). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/49844]
Sponsorship
This project was funded by research grant 111454 from the Deutsche Kresbshilfe. RT Fortner was supported by a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship of the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (MC-IIF-623984). The coordination of EPIC is financially supported by the European Commission (DG-SANCO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The national cohorts are supported by the Danish Cancer Society (Denmark); Ligue Contre le Cancer, Institut Gustave Roussy, Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale, and Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) (France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Krebshilfe, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, and Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany); the Hellenic Health Foundation (Greece); Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy and the National Research Council (Italy); the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS), Netherlands Cancer Registry (NKR), LK Research Funds, Dutch Prevention Funds, Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), and Statistics Netherlands (The Netherlands); ERC-2009-AdG 232997 and Nordforsk, Nordic Centre of Excellence programme on Food, Nutrition and Health (Norway); Health Research Fund (FIS), PI13/00061 to Granada, PI13/01162 to EPIC-Murcia, Regional Governments of Andalucía, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia, and Navarra, and ISCIII RETIC (RD06/0020) (Spain); the Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council, and County Councils of Skåne and Västerbotten (Sweden); and Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C570/A16491 and C8221/A19170 to EPIC-Oxford), and the Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC-Norfolk, MR/M012190/1 to EPIC-Oxford) (UK).Abstract
Background: Circulating osteoprotegerin (OPG), a member of the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B
(RANK) axis, may influence breast cancer risk via its role as the decoy receptor for both the RANK ligand (RANKL)
and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). Circulating OPG and breast cancer risk has
been examined in only one prior study.
Methods: A case-control study was nested in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
(EPIC) cohort. A total of 2008 incident invasive breast cancer cases (estrogen receptor (ER)+, n = 1622; ER–, n = 386),
matched 1:1 to controls, were included in the analysis. Women were predominantly postmenopausal at blood
collection (77%); postmenopausal women included users and non-users of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT).
Serum OPG was quantified with an electrochemiluminescence assay. Relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence
intervals (CIs) were calculated using conditional logistic regression.
Results: The associations between OPG and ER+ and ER– breast cancer differed significantly. Higher concentrations
of OPG were associated with increased risk of ER– breast cancer (top vs. bottom tertile RR = 1.93 [95% CI 1.24–3.02];
ptrend = 0.03). We observed a suggestive inverse association for ER+ disease overall and among women
premenopausal at blood collection. Results for ER– disease did not differ by menopausal status at blood collection
(phet = 0.97), and we observed no heterogeneity by HT use at blood collection (phet ≥ 0.43) or age at breast cancer
diagnosis (phet ≥ 0.30).
Conclusions: This study provides the first prospective data on OPG and breast cancer risk by hormone receptor
subtype. High circulating OPG may represent a novel risk factor for ER– breast cancer.