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Family history of breast cancer in first-degree relatives and triple-negative breast cancer risk

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for less than 20% of breast cancers overall, but is the predominant subtype among carriers of mutations in BRCA1. However, few studies have assessed the association between breast cancer family history and risk of triple-negative breast cancer. We examined the relationship between having a family history of breast cancer in first-degree relatives and risk of triple-negative breast cancer, and risk of two other breast cancer subtypes defined by tumor marker expression. We evaluated data collected by the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium from 2,599,946 mammograms on 1,054,466 women, among whom 15% reported a first-degree family history of breast cancer. Using Cox regression in this cohort, we evaluated subtype-specific associations between family history and risk of triple-negative (N = 705), estrogen receptor-positive (ER+, N = 10,026), and hormone receptor-negative/HER2-expressing (ER−/PR−/HER2+, N = 308) breast cancer among women aged 40–84 years. First-degree family history was similarly and significantly associated with an increased risk of all the subtypes [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.73, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.43–2.09, HR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.54–1.70, and HR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.15–2.13, for triple-negative, ER+, and ER−/PR−/HER2+, respectively]. Risk of all the subtypes was most pronounced among women with at least two affected first-degree relatives (versus women with no affected first-degree relatives, HRtriple-negative = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.66–4.27, HRER+ = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.79–2.36, HRER−/PR−/HER2+ = 2.25, 95% CI: 0.99–5.08). Having a first-degree family history of breast cancer was associated with an increased risk of triple-negative breast cancer with a magnitude of association similar to that for the predominant ER+ subtype and ER−/PR−/HER2+ breast cancer.

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Abbreviations

ER:

estrogen receptor

PR:

progesterone receptor

HR:

hazard ratio

CI:

confidence interval

BCSC:

Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium

IHC:

immunohistochemistry

FISH:

fluorescence in situ hybridization

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Acknowledgments

We thank the participating women, mammography facilities, and radiologists for the data they have provided for this study. A list of the BCSC investigators and procedures for requesting BCSC data for research purposes are provided at: http://breastscreening.cancer.gov/.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Financial support

This study was supported by a National Cancer Institute-funded Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium co-operative agreement (U01CA63740, U01CA86076, U01CA86082, U01CA63736, U01CA70013, U01CA69976, U01CA63731, and U01CA70040). The collection of cancer data used in this study was supported in part by several state public health departments and cancer registries throughout the U.S. For a full description of these sources, please see: http://breastscreening.cancer.gov/work/acknowledgement.html. This publication was supported by grant number T32 CA09168 and R25-CA94880 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue N, M4-B402, P.O. Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109-1024, USA

    Amanda I. Phipps, Kathleen E. Malone, William E. Barlow, Peggy L. Porter & Christopher I. Li

  2. School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Amanda I. Phipps, Diana S. M. Buist, Kathleen E. Malone & Christopher I. Li

  3. Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA

    Diana S. M. Buist & William E. Barlow

  4. Cancer Research and Biostatistics, Seattle, WA, USA

    William E. Barlow

  5. School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Peggy L. Porter

  6. Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Karla Kerlikowske

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  1. Amanda I. Phipps
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  2. Diana S. M. Buist
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  7. Christopher I. Li
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Correspondence to Amanda I. Phipps.

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Phipps, A.I., Buist, D.S.M., Malone, K.E. et al. Family history of breast cancer in first-degree relatives and triple-negative breast cancer risk. Breast Cancer Res Treat 126, 671–678 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-1148-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-1148-9

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