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Familial associations of female breast cancer with other cancers

Zheng, Guoqiao LU ; Yu, Hongyao LU ; Hemminki, Akseli ; Försti, Asta LU ; Sundquist, Kristina LU and Hemminki, Kari LU (2017) In International Journal of Cancer 141(11). p.2253-2259
Abstract

Familial risks of breast cancer (BC) are well established but whether BC clusters with other, i.e. discordant, cancers is less certain but of interest for the identification of common genetic and possible environmental factors contributing to a general cancer susceptibility. We apply a novel approach to search for familial associations of BC with other (discordant) cancers based on the Swedish Family-Cancer Database. Relative risks (RRs) were calculated for BC in families with increasing numbers of patients with discordant cancer X, and conversely, familial RRs for cancer X in families with increasing numbers of BC patients. Joint p-values were calculated from independent analyses. The total number of familial BCs was 12,266, 14.9% with... (More)

Familial risks of breast cancer (BC) are well established but whether BC clusters with other, i.e. discordant, cancers is less certain but of interest for the identification of common genetic and possible environmental factors contributing to a general cancer susceptibility. We apply a novel approach to search for familial associations of BC with other (discordant) cancers based on the Swedish Family-Cancer Database. Relative risks (RRs) were calculated for BC in families with increasing numbers of patients with discordant cancer X, and conversely, familial RRs for cancer X in families with increasing numbers of BC patients. Joint p-values were calculated from independent analyses. The total number of familial BCs was 12,266, 14.9% with one first-degree relative with BC and 1.2% with at least 2 affected relatives. Ovarian and prostate cancers showed the strongest associations with BC (p-value <10−11). The p-value for melanoma was <10−6, for stomach and male colorectal cancer <2.5 × 10−6, for cancer of unknown primary <2.5 × 10−5 and for lung cancer <5 × 10−5. Significance level <5 × 10−4 was reached with pancreatic cancer. The remaining associations (p < 0.0025) included thyroid, endometrial, testicular, eye cancers (uveal melanoma), nervous system and endocrine tumors and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The RR for BC increased by increasing numbers of patients with any cancer in family members and it reached 1.62 when three or more family members were affected. The results suggest that BC shares susceptibility with a number of other cancers. This might alert genetic counselors and challenge approaches for gene and gene–environment identification.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
discordant cancer, familial cancer, familial risk, genetic association
in
International Journal of Cancer
volume
141
issue
11
pages
7 pages
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85028353881
  • pmid:28801919
  • wos:000412473600009
ISSN
0020-7136
DOI
10.1002/ijc.30927
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a7af39e4-a367-42dd-a2d6-f8c511182bfd
date added to LUP
2017-11-22 08:18:59
date last changed
2025-01-08 01:03:13
@article{a7af39e4-a367-42dd-a2d6-f8c511182bfd,
  abstract     = {{<p>Familial risks of breast cancer (BC) are well established but whether BC clusters with other, i.e. discordant, cancers is less certain but of interest for the identification of common genetic and possible environmental factors contributing to a general cancer susceptibility. We apply a novel approach to search for familial associations of BC with other (discordant) cancers based on the Swedish Family-Cancer Database. Relative risks (RRs) were calculated for BC in families with increasing numbers of patients with discordant cancer X, and conversely, familial RRs for cancer X in families with increasing numbers of BC patients. Joint p-values were calculated from independent analyses. The total number of familial BCs was 12,266, 14.9% with one first-degree relative with BC and 1.2% with at least 2 affected relatives. Ovarian and prostate cancers showed the strongest associations with BC (p-value &lt;10<sup>−11</sup>). The p-value for melanoma was &lt;10<sup>−6</sup>, for stomach and male colorectal cancer &lt;2.5 × 10<sup>−6</sup>, for cancer of unknown primary &lt;2.5 × 10<sup>−5</sup> and for lung cancer &lt;5 × 10<sup>−5</sup>. Significance level &lt;5 × 10<sup>−4</sup> was reached with pancreatic cancer. The remaining associations (p &lt; 0.0025) included thyroid, endometrial, testicular, eye cancers (uveal melanoma), nervous system and endocrine tumors and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The RR for BC increased by increasing numbers of patients with any cancer in family members and it reached 1.62 when three or more family members were affected. The results suggest that BC shares susceptibility with a number of other cancers. This might alert genetic counselors and challenge approaches for gene and gene–environment identification.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zheng, Guoqiao and Yu, Hongyao and Hemminki, Akseli and Försti, Asta and Sundquist, Kristina and Hemminki, Kari}},
  issn         = {{0020-7136}},
  keywords     = {{discordant cancer; familial cancer; familial risk; genetic association}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{2253--2259}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Cancer}},
  title        = {{Familial associations of female breast cancer with other cancers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ijc.30927}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/ijc.30927}},
  volume       = {{141}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}