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]