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Fasting insulin and endogenous hormones in relation to premenopausal breast density (Canada)

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Abstract

Purpose

Mammographic breast density (BD) is associated with increased risk of breast cancer. This study asks which circulating metabolic and reproductive biomarkers are associated with BD, particularly dense breast area, in premenopausal women not taking exogenous hormones.

Methods

In a cross-sectional study, 299 premenopausal women aged 40–49 completed questionnaires, provided a fasting blood sample, had height, weight, percentage body fat, waist and hip measurements taken, and attended a screening mammogram. Multivariate linear regression was used to calculate adjusted means for percentage BD, absolute dense and non-dense area, across categories of covariates, adjusted for day of menstrual cycle, age, parity, body mass index, percentage body fat, and ethnicity.

Results

Fasting insulin levels were inversely associated, and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 levels directly associated with percentage BD, but lost statistical significance after multivariate adjustment. Sex hormone-binding globulin levels were directly associated with percentage BD, still significant after multivariate adjustment (p = 0.03). A significant inverse dose–response association was observed between progesterone levels and dense area (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Breast density in premenopausal women seems unrelated or inversely related to insulin resistance, levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 and its binding proteins, and levels of sex steroids; therefore, the mechanism by which radiodensity on a mammogram is related to breast cancer risk remains unclear.

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Acknowledgments

The research was sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance. We thank Teresa Switzer, Treena McDonald, Rozmin Janoo-Gilani, Donna Kan, and June Song for help with operational aspects.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Control Research, British Columbia Cancer Agency, 675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1L3, Canada

    Marilyn J. Borugian, John J. Spinelli, Zenaida Abanto, Angela Brooks-Wilson, T. Gregory Hislop & Richard P. Gallagher

  2. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Marilyn J. Borugian, John J. Spinelli, T. Gregory Hislop & Richard P. Gallagher

  3. Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Angela Brooks-Wilson

  4. Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Angela Brooks-Wilson

  5. Screening Mammography Program of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Paula B. Gordon & Linda J. Warren

  6. Departments of Oncology and Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Michael N. Pollak

Authors
  1. Marilyn J. Borugian
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  2. John J. Spinelli
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  3. Paula B. Gordon
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Correspondence to Marilyn J. Borugian.

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Borugian, M.J., Spinelli, J.J., Gordon, P.B. et al. Fasting insulin and endogenous hormones in relation to premenopausal breast density (Canada). Cancer Causes Control 25, 385–394 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0339-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0339-9

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