Fulltext

Biomarkers of folate and vitamin B12 and breast cancer risk: report from the EPIC cohort

Matejcic M 1 , de Batlle J 1 , Ricci C 1 , Biessy C 1 , Perrier F 1 , Huybrechts I 1 Show all authors , Weiderpass E 2 , Boutron-Ruault MC 3 , Cadeau C 3 , His M 3 , Cox DG 4 , Boeing H 5 , Fortner RT 6 , Kaaks R 6 , Lagiou P 7 , Trichopoulou A 7 , Benetou V 8 , Tumino R 9 , Panico S 10 , Sieri S 11 , Palli D 12 , Ricceri F 13 , Bueno-de-Mesquita HB 14 , Skeie G 15 , Amiano P 16 , Sánchez MJ 16 , Chirlaque MD 16 , Barricarte A 16 , Quirós JR 17 , Buckland G 18 , van Gils CH 19 , Peeters PH 19 , Key TJ 20 , Riboli E 21 , Gylling B 22 , Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A 23 , Gunter MJ 1 , Romieu I 1 , Chajès V 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
  • 2 Genetic Epidemiology Group, Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland
  • 3 Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
  • 4 Centre Léon Bérard, INSERM U1052, Cancer Research Center of Lyon, Lyon, France
  • 5 Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Nuthetal, Germany
  • 6 Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
  • 7 Hellenic Health Foundation, Athens, Greece
  • 8 WHO Collaborating Center for Nutrition and Health, Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology and Nutrition in Public Health, Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
  • 9 Cancer Registry and Histopathology Unit, Civic - M.P. Arezzo Hospital, ASP Ragusa, Ragusa, Italy
  • 10 Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy
  • 11 Epidemiology and Prevention Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano, Italy
  • 12 Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Cancer Research and Prevention Institute - ISPO, Florence, Italy
  • 13 Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
  • 14 Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 15 Department of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
  • 16 CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
  • 17 Public Health Directorate, Asturias, Spain
  • 18 Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO-IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
  • 19 Department of Epidemiology, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • 20 Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
  • 21 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom
  • 22 Department of Medical Biosciences, Pathology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  • 23 Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY
Int J Cancer, 2017 Mar 15;140(6):1246-1259.
PMID: 27905104 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.30536

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have reported inconsistent findings for the association between B vitamins and breast cancer (BC) risk. We investigated the relationship between biomarkers of folate and vitamin B12 and the risk of BC in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Plasma concentrations of folate and vitamin B12 were determined in 2,491 BC cases individually matched to 2,521 controls among women who provided baseline blood samples. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios by quartiles of either plasma B vitamin. Subgroup analyses by menopausal status, hormone receptor status of breast tumors (estrogen receptor [ER], progesterone receptor [PR] and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 [HER2]), alcohol intake and MTHFR polymorphisms (677C > T and 1298A > C) were also performed. Plasma levels of folate and vitamin B12 were not significantly associated with the overall risk of BC or by hormone receptor status. A marginally positive association was found between vitamin B12 status and BC risk in women consuming above the median level of alcohol (ORQ4-Q1  = 1.26; 95% CI 1.00-1.58; Ptrend  = 0.05). Vitamin B12 status was also positively associated with BC risk in women with plasma folate levels below the median value (ORQ4-Q1  = 1.29; 95% CI 1.02-1.62; Ptrend  = 0.03). Overall, folate and vitamin B12 status was not clearly associated with BC risk in this prospective cohort study. However, potential interactions between vitamin B12 and alcohol or folate on the risk of BC deserve further investigation.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

MeSH terms
Similar publications