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Short Communication |
1 Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute and 2 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada; 3 Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Rochester, Minnesota; and 4 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida
Requests for reprints: Julia Knight, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, 5th Floor, 60 Murray Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5. Phone: 416-586-8701; Fax: 416-586-8404. E-mail: knight{at}mshri.on.ca
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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200 versus <50 IU/d), with evidence for a stronger association with lower density in those with high intake of both vitamin D and calcium. This finding was replicated for premenopausal women only in a separate study with information on both dietary and supplemental vitamin D (7). In contrast, a previous analysis of the Minnesota Breast Cancer Family Study found no association between dietary and supplemental vitamin D intake and mammographic density, but analyses were not stratified by calcium intake (8). The conversion from 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) to the biologically active form is tightly regulated and the circulating level of 25OHD better represents total vitamin D exposure (9, 10). A number of tissues, including breast, can locally convert 25OHD to the active form, making 25OHD etiologically relevant (11, 12). In recent results from the Nurses' Health Study, prediagnostic plasma 25OHD was significantly lower in breast cancer cases compared with controls (5). We examined the association between circulating 25OHD and the intermediate phenotype of mammographic density (13) within a sample of women from the Minnesota Breast Cancer Family Study who had both blood samples and mammograms available.
| Materials and Methods |
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In 2001, a second follow-up of these families was conducted through a mailed questionnaire to obtain additional risk factor and cancer information and authorization for release of prior mammograms taken over the past 10 years (17). Of the 6,194 eligible women who had completed first follow-up, a total of 3,743 women completed this questionnaire (77.1% of those contacted and competent and 60.4% overall).
Blood as a source of DNA and serum was obtained on 1,328 women in the family cohort study for purposes of several substudies, including a nested breast cancer case-control study, linkage analysis of breast density, and examination of penetrance of major breast cancer genes.
Mammographic Density Estimation
Mammograms for the study were obtained at time of both first follow-up (n = 2,491) and second follow-up (n = 2,070); the goal of the additional mammogram retrieval at second follow-up was to ascertain serial mammograms on participants. The participation rate for the mammogram component at first follow-up was 48% of women ages
40 years; at second follow-up, 87% of eligible women provided authorization to retrieve their mammograms but we ascertained images on 69% (n = 2,070); the others were either unavailable (n = 295) or not attempted (n = 539). Women with breast cancer before the mammogram, however, were excluded (n = 97).
Both the left craniocaudal and mediolateral oblique views were digitized on a Lumiscan 75 scanner with 12-bit grayscale depth. The pixel size was 0.130 x 0.130 mm2 for both the 18 x 24-cm2 and 24 x 30-cm2 films. Percent mammographic density [(dense area / total area) x 100] and absolute dense area (cm2) were estimated for each view using a computer-assisted thresholding program (Cumulus; ref. 18). All images were read by a single trained technician. Although we could not explicitly distinguish screening mammograms from those taken for diagnostic purposes, as the mammograms were all standard screening four-view (two views per breast) and women with breast cancer were excluded, it is likely that most or all of the mammograms were for screening purposes.
25OHD Assays
Serum samples from 488 women with a craniocaudal view and with sufficient serum available were assayed for 25OHD. Serum 25OHD was measured with the Diasorin RIA kit (Stillwater, MN), with which our laboratory holds a certificate of proficiency from the Vitamin D External Quality Assessment Scheme (Charing Cross Hospital, London, United Kingdom). Between-assay coefficient of variation for various levels of quality-control sera was <10%. One sample did not have detectable 25OHD. The observed range in values was 14 to 174 nmol/L. Of the 487 women included in this analysis, 356 (73%) had their blood drawn within 1 year of the mammogram used in this analysis and 131 (27%) had their blood drawn more than 1 year after the mammogram, but within 4 years. One woman had her blood taken
8 years after the mammogram.
Statistical Analysis
We compared mean values of mammographic density and circulating levels of vitamin D across categories of covariates using ANOVA. Four density measures were considered: percent density and dense area from the craniocaudal view, and percent density and dense area from the mediolateral oblique view. If more than one mammogram was available, the one with at least a craniocaudal view taken nearest the blood sample was selected for the analysis. The following potential risk factors were considered as covariates: age at interview, season of blood sample receipt (October-March versus April-September), family history (first or second degree), age at menarche (<12, 12, 13, >13 years), menopausal status at interview, parity and age at first birth (nulliparous, <3 at age 20 years or earlier, <3 after 20 years, 3+ at age 20 years or earlier, 3+ after 20 years), hormone replacement therapy (never, former
5 years, former >5 years, current
5 years, current >5 years), body mass index (BMI; <20, 20-24.9, 25-29.9,
30 kg/m2), physical activity, education (less than high school, high school, some college, college graduate), smoking status (never, former, current), alcohol usual frequency of
1 drink (daily, weekly, monthly, never), exposure to sunlight (less than average, average, more than average), skin type (fair, medium, dark), calorie intake (quartiles), intake of calcium (quartiles), and use of dietary supplements (current use, yes/no). Physical activity was derived from questions on frequency of moderate and vigorous activities and defined as three levels (low, moderate, and high). A woman was considered postmenopausal if she responded with a "no" when asked whether she had had a menstrual period within the last year, not including periods brought on by taking hormones. Any woman responding "yes" to this question was considered premenopausal unless she reported her periods had stopped because of pregnancy or breast-feeding. All covariates were derived from information collected either by telephone interview at first follow-up or by mailed questionnaire at second follow-up as described above.
Comparisons of the four breast density measures across quartiles of serum 25OHD were carried out after adjustment for the effects of potential confounding variables using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Two sets of models were fit: one adjusting for age and BMI, and one adjusting for age, BMI, and other covariates. Covariates associated with both circulating levels of 25OHD and any of the four breast density measures (P < 0.10), after accounting for the effects of age and BMI, were considered potential confounding variables and included in the final ANCOVA model. These covariates included parity, age at first birth, and physical activity. Least squares means and corresponding SEs were used to describe the covariate-adjusted associations between breast density and vitamin D levels.
We also determined if season of blood sample receipt, menopausal status, or calcium intake modified the breast density-vitamin D associations. For these analyses, calcium intake was classified as the upper 25% (>1,385 mg) versus the lower 75% (
1,385 mg). We assessed effect modification using a formal test for interaction, adjusted for the same potential confounding variables as outlined above.
All hypothesis tests were two sided, and all analyses were carried out with the SAS software system (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC). Primary analyses assumed independence across all observations. However, we also conducted analyses using general linear mixed models to account for correlation among individuals within the same family. For all such models, family-specific correlations were modeled using a compound symmetry covariance matrix.
| Results |
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Analyses accounting for possible familial correlations did not appreciably change results (data not shown).
| Discussion |
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There are a number of possible reasons that could explain our lack of association. First, there might truly be no association between serum 25OHD and mammographic density. Alternatively, it is possible that vitamin D exposure earlier in life is more relevant to both mammographic density and breast cancer. Bérubé et al. (7) found a relationship between current intake of vitamin D and density primarily among premenopausal women. However, we observed no evidence for an association in either premenopausal or postmenopausal women, although our definition of menopausal status was fairly crude. The number of premenopausal women was quite small (n = 133) and it is possible that we had insufficient statistical power to detect a relationship, although no trends were evident. In addition, the time between blood sample and mammogram varied and the measure of vitamin D may not always have reflected the level at the time the mammogram was taken, although when we restricted the time interval to within 1 year, the results did not change. Vitamin D levels can vary considerably by season as sun exposure is an important source, but we did not find evidence of a relationship with density in either winter or summer. Long-term stability of 25OHD is less clear, but intra-woman variability in 25OHD measurements of between 13% and 19% has been observed over a 5-year period (19).
In the two studies of Bérubé et al., the association between vitamin D intake and mammographic density was most pronounced among those with the highest levels of dietary or total calcium intake, with a reduction in mean density of 8.5% in premenopausal women with a daily total intake of 400 IU of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of calcium (6, 7). In the present study, we investigated a potential interaction between vitamin D and calcium in an attempt to replicate the previous studies. There was marginal evidence for an interaction between calcium intake and serum 25OHD with respect to percent density, but not dense area, in the subset where this information was available. There were no clear trends, but it should be noted that the lowest levels of density were observed in those with the highest levels of 25OHD and the highest intake of calcium. However, the marginal interaction observed with percent density could simply have occurred by chance. Vitamin D is involved in calcium regulation, but the exact mechanism of an interaction with respect to breast density is not clear.
Although we did not confirm the previous association of dietary vitamin D and mammographic density, future studies should focus on premenopausal women, as this might be the time period of greatest importance. More recent work also suggests that insulin-like growth factor-I and insulin-like growth factorbinding protein-3 levels may also influence the relationship between vitamin D and mammographic density in premenopausal women (20). The inverse association between vitamin D and/or calcium and mammographic density was observed primarily in premenopausal women with insulin-like growth factor-I or insulin-like growth factorbinding protein-3 levels above the median. These findings suggest that the relationship between diet and mammographic density is complex. In general, the inconsistencies of associations seen between dietary factors likely reflect this complexity (6, 21, 22).
Strengths of the study include the first examination of a serum biomarker of vitamin D with mammographic density. In addition, we used a well-characterized assessment of mammographic density and a measure of serum vitamin D that better reflects total exposure than self-reported intake. However, our study had limitations including dietary data available on a limited subset of women and mammograms that did not correspond exactly with the timing of blood draw.
In conclusion, the data on vitamin D and breast cancer risk consistently show an inverse association. However, the biological basis for this association is not completely understood. Our results suggest that this association is not mediated by an effect on mammographic density, at least in postmenopausal women.
| Footnotes |
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Received 3/28/06; revised 7/17/06; accepted 8/14/06.
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-hydroxylase. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2001;86:88894.This article has been cited by other articles:
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D. M. Freedman, S.-C. Chang, R. T. Falk, M. P. Purdue, W.-Y. Huang, C. A. McCarty, B. W. Hollis, B. I. Graubard, C. D. Berg, and R. G. Ziegler Serum Levels of Vitamin D Metabolites and Breast Cancer Risk in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., April 1, 2008; 17(4): 889 - 894. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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J. Brisson, S. Berube, C. Diorio, M. Sinotte, M. Pollak, and B. Masse Synchronized Seasonal Variations of Mammographic Breast Density and Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., May 1, 2007; 16(5): 929 - 933. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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