Prolactin predicts premenopausal breast cancer
Source: Journal Clinical Oncology 2007; 25: 1482-88
Looking at the relationship between milk production and risk of breast
cancer. 
MedWire News: The hormone that stimulates milk production in women also
raises their risk of breast cancer, researchers have shown. 
Shelley Tworoger (Channing Laboratory, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) and
colleagues analyzed women from the Nurse's Health Study (NHS) who were
42-55 years of age in 1989/1990. 
The researchers identified 377 women who developed breast cancer during
follow-up until 2000, and compared them with twice as many controls.
Most (68%) of the women were premenopausal. 
The team then pooled this data with data for all women in the NHS and
NHSII. 
There was a modest association between increasing serum levels of
prolactin and the risk of breast cancer in women from the NHS.
Women in the top versus the lowest quartile of serum prolactin had a 30%
increased risk. And these risk estimates were similar for premenopausal
and postmenopausal women, and for women with tumors of different
estrogen receptor status. 
For all women in the NHS and NHSII, those in the highest quartile for
serum prolactin again had a 30% increased risk of breast cancer,
compared with those in the lowest quartile. But the risk was altered by
the ER status of the women's tumor. 
Women in the top quartile for serum prolactin levels had a 60% higher
risk of ER-positive breast cancer than those in the lowest quartile. 
Tworoger et al say that their "more complete" analysis shows that
prolactin is "a moderate to strong, and, likely, independent risk factor
for breast cancer." 
Posted: 27 April 2007

Esther G

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]