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Family history of cancer associated with breast tumor clinicopathological features

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Abstract

Hereditary breast cancers have unique clinicopathological characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to establish the relationship between self-reported family history of cancer and clinicopathological features in breast cancer patients from Washington, DC. Data on incident breast cancer cases from 2000 to 2010 were obtained from the Washington, DC Cancer Registry. Variables such as estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) receptor status, as well as stage and grade, were analyzed in those that self-reported with (n = 1,734) and without a family history of cancer (n = 1,712). The breast cancer molecular subtypes were compared when ER, PR, and HER2 statuses were available. Furthermore, tumor characteristics were compared by race/ethnicity. Regression and chi-square analyses were performed. A report of family history was associated with age (OR = 1.27 95 % CI: 1.09–1.48; p < 0.0001), high grade tumors (OR = 1.29 95 % CI: 1.05–1.58; p = 0.02), and having ER and PR negative breast cancer (OR = 1.26 95 % CI: 1.02–1.57; p = 0.029). When tumor characteristics were compared by race/ethnicity, those that self-reported as African American with a family history had a higher frequency of ER negative tumors (OR = 1.51 95 % CI: 1.09–2.08; p = 0.008), PR negative tumors (OR = 1.46 95 % CI: 1.09–1.94; p = 0.028), grade 3 tumors (OR = 1.42 95 % CI: 1.05–1.93; p < 0.0001), and ER/PR negative tumors (OR = 1.5 95 % CI: 1.088–2.064; p = 0.01). These results suggest that a positive family history of cancer in African Americans should increase suspicions of hereditary cancer. Therefore, behavioral risk reduction activities, such as collecting a family history, may reduce late stage diagnosis and cancer mortality.

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Compliance and ethics

Experiments comply with the current laws of the US.

Financial support

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR-UL1RR031975), National Institutes of Health, through the Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program (CTSA), a trademark of DHHS, part of the Roadmap Initiative, “Re-Engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise”; from the RCMI Program at Howard University, Division of Research Infrastructure, National Center for Research Resources, NIH (NCRR-G12 RR003048) and the Howard University Cancer Center/Johns Hopkins Cancer Center Partnership, National Cancer Institute (NCI-U54 CA091431).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Division of Genetics, Howard University College of Medicine, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20060, USA

    Luisel J. Ricks, Nicole Thompson & Barbara Harrison

  2. Howard University Graduate School, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20060, USA

    Luisel J. Ricks & Barbara Harrison

  3. National Human Genome Center, Howard University, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20060, USA

    Luisel J. Ricks & Bradford Wilson

  4. Howard University Cancer Center, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20060, USA

    Luisel J. Ricks, Cherie Spencer, Adeyinka Laiyemo & Carla Williams

  5. Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Altovise Ewing

  6. Department of Community and Family Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20060, USA

    Bradford Wilson

  7. Department of Community and Family Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, 520 W Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20059, USA

    Finie Richardson, Pamela Carter-Nolan & Carla Williams

  8. Cancer Research Center, Frank Fountain Biomedical Research Building, Hampton University, 39 Tyler Street, Hampton, VA, 23668, USA

    Luisel J. Ricks

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  1. Luisel J. Ricks
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  2. Altovise Ewing
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  3. Nicole Thompson
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  7. Pamela Carter-Nolan
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  9. Adeyinka Laiyemo
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  10. Carla Williams
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Correspondence to Luisel J. Ricks.

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Ricks, L.J., Ewing, A., Thompson, N. et al. Family history of cancer associated with breast tumor clinicopathological features. J Community Genet 5, 233–240 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-013-0180-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-013-0180-y

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