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Increases in BMI contribute to worsening inflammatory biomarkers related to breast cancer risk in women: a longitudinal study

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

Inflammatory adipokines and cytokines play a pivotal role in linking obesity and breast cancer (BC) risk in women. We investigated the longitudinal associations between BMI change and trajectories of inflammatory biomarkers related to BC risk.

Methods

A longitudinal study was conducted among 442 Chinese women with 3-year repeated measures from 2019 to 2021. Plasma circulating inflammatory biomarkers related to BC risk, including adiponectin (ADP), resistin (RETN), soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R), insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), and C-reactive protein (CRP), were examined annually. Linear mixed-effect models (LMM) were applied to investigate associations of time-varying BMI with trajectories of biomarkers. We additionally examined the modification effect of baseline BMI groups, menopausal status, and metabolic syndrome.

Results

BMI was associated with increased levels of RETN, CRP, sOB-R, and decreased levels of ADP at baseline. An increasing BMI rate was significantly associated with an average 3-year increase in RETN (β = 0.019, 95% CI 0.004 to 0.034) and sOB-R (β = 0.022, 95% CI 0.009 to 0.035), as well as a decrease in ADP (β =  − 0.006, 95% CI  − 0.012 to 0.001). These associations persisted across different baseline BMI groups. An increasing BMI rate was significantly associated with an average 3-year increase in CRP levels among normal weight (β = 0.045, 95% CI 0.001 to 0.088) and overweight (β = 0.060, 95% CI 0.014 to 0.107) women. As BMI increased over time, a more remarkable decrease in ADP was observed among women with metabolic syndrome (β =  − 0.016, 95% CI − 0.029 to − 0.004) than those without metabolic syndrome at baseline.

Conclusions

A higher increase rate of BMI was associated with poorer trajectories of inflammatory biomarkers related to BC risk. Recommendations for BMI reduction may benefit BC prevention in women, particularly for those with metabolic syndrome.

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Data availability

The raw data are not publicly available due to the participants’ privacy, but derived data supporting the findings are available from the corresponding author by reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants in our longitudinal study and also acknowledge the staff of Chengdu Shuangliu Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital.

Funding

This study was supported by funds from the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFC3600600), the Key R&D Program of Sichuan, China (2022YFS0055), the National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFC2006505), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81874282, 81874283, 81673255), the Recruitment Program for Young Professionals of China, the Promotion Plan for Basic Medical Sciences, the Development Plan for Cutting-Edge Disciplines, Sichuan University, and other Projects from West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Systems Epidemiology, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Yu Hao, Jinyu Xiao, Xunying Zhao, Xueyao Wu, Bin Xu, Xingyue Li, Chunxia Yang, Xin Wang, Lu Long, Xia Jiang, Jiaqiang Liao, Ben Zhang & Jiayuan Li

  2. West China-PUMC C. C. Chen Institute of Health, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Yu Hao, Jinyu Xiao, Xunying Zhao, Xueyao Wu, Bin Xu, Xingyue Li, Chunxia Yang, Xin Wang, Lu Long, Xia Jiang, Jiaqiang Liao, Ben Zhang & Jiayuan Li

  3. Department of Maternal and Child Health, Chengdu Shuangliu District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Ping Fu, Lanping Yan & Min Zhou

  4. Department of Scientific Research & Management, The Second People’s Hospital of Guiyang, Guiyang, Guizhou, China

    Xiaofan Zhang

  5. Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Zhenmi Liu

  6. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Xia Jiang

  7. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Ben Zhang

Authors
  1. Yu Hao
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  2. Jinyu Xiao
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  4. Lanping Yan
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  7. Min Zhou
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  17. Ben Zhang
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  18. Jiayuan Li
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Contributions

YH and JL designed the study; JX and JL provided code and analytical advice; LY, PF, MZ, XL, BX, LC, and YL collected the data; BZ, XJ, ZL, CY, LL, XZ, XZ, and XW provided analytical advice and critical interpretation of findings; YH conducted all analyses and drafted the manuscript; all authors edited and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiayuan Li.

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Our study was approved by the ethics committee of West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hao, Y., Xiao, J., Fu, P. et al. Increases in BMI contribute to worsening inflammatory biomarkers related to breast cancer risk in women: a longitudinal study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 202, 117–127 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-023-07023-w

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