Environment and Breast Cancer: Science Review


Evidence From Humans
 
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Relationship between the Val158Met polymorphism of catechol O-methyl transferase and breast cancer
Yim, D. S., Parkb, S. K., Yoo, K. Y., Yoon, K. S., Chung, H. H., Kang, H. L., Ahn, S. H., Noh, D. Y., Choe, K. J., Jang, I. J., Shin, S. G., Strickland, P. T., Hirvonen, A., Kang, D. Pharmacogenetics. 2001. 11:4, 279-86.
Topic area
Body size - Genetic variability
Study design
Hospital based case-control study
Funding agency
Other: Ministry of Health & Welfare, R.O.K.; BK21
Study Participants
Menopausal Status
The menopausal status of women included in this study is listed here.
Pre menopausal
Post menopausal
Participant selection: Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Criteria used to select participants in the study.
Histopathologically confirmed incident cases referred from three hospitals. Controls were women with no breast disease history recruited from same hospitals, matched to cases 1:1, on age and menopausal status.
Exposure Investigated
Exposures investigated
BMI, COMT allele frequency, used PCR-RFLP
How exposure was measured
Biological Questionnaire, in-person
Exposure assessment comment
Frequency of COMT-LL genotype was 9.8% compared to studies of Whites, with 22-28%
Confounders considered
Other breast cancer risk factors, such as family history, age at first birth, and hormone replacement therapy use, that were taken into account in the study.
Adequately controlled
Genetic characterization included
If the study analyzed relationships between environmental factors and inherited genetic variations, this field will be marked “Yes.” “No”, if not.
Yes
Description of major analysis
Logistic regression analysis of COMT genotype and cancer risk, including effect modification by BMI
Strength of associations reported
In full sample, women with at least one COMT-L allele showed 2 fold risk in cancer
Among women with < 23.1 BMI, marginally significant increase in risk associated with having at least one COMT-L (OR=1.8, CI:0.95-3.48).