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This Article Accepted manuscript (PDF) All Versions of this Article: ERC-09-0211v1 17/1/125    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Woolcott, C. Articles by Goodman, M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Woolcott, C. Articles by Goodman, M.

C Woolcott, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States
Y Shvetsov, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States
F Stanczyk, Obstetrics & Gynecology, USC Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, United States
L Wilkens, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States
K White, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States
C Caberto, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States
B Henderson, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
L Le Marchand, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States
L Kolonel, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States
M Goodman, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States

Correspondence: Christy Woolcott, Email: cwoolcott{at}crch.hawaii.edu

Abstract

To add to the existing evidence that comes mostly from White populations, we conducted a nested case-control study to examine the association between sex hormones and breast cancer risk within the Multiethnic Cohort that includes Japanese American, White, Native Hawaiian, African American, and Latina women. Of the postmenopausal women for whom we had a plasma sample, 132 developed breast cancer during follow-up. Two controls per case, matched on study area (Hawaii, Los Angeles), ethnicity/race, birth year, date and time of blood draw and time fasting, were randomly selected from the women who had not developed breast cancer. Levels of estradiol, estrone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and testosterone were quantified by radioimmunoassay after organic extraction and Celite column partition chromatography. Estrone sulfate, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were quantified by direct immunoassays. Based on conditional logistic regression, the sex hormones were positively associated and SHBG was negatively associated with breast cancer risk. All associations, except those with DHEAS and testosterone showed a significant linear trend. The odds ratio associated with a doubling of estradiol levels was 2.26 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.58-3.25) and the odds ratio associated with a doubling of testosterone levels was 1.34 (95% CI 0.98-1.82). The associations in Japanese American women, who constituted 54% of our sample, were similar to or nonsignificantly stronger than in the overall group. This study provides the best evidence to date that the association between sex hormones and breast cancer risk is generalizable to an ethnically diverse population.