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Alcohol metabolism, alcohol intake, and breast cancer risk: a sister-set analysis using the Breast Cancer Family Registry

  • Epidemiology
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Abstract

Moderate alcohol intake has been consistently associated with a modest (30–50%) increase in breast cancer risk, but it remains unclear if certain individuals have higher susceptibility to the harmful effects of alcohol intake. Individuals differ in their ability to metabolize alcohol through genetic differences in alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), the enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of approximately 80% of ethanol to acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Using data from the Breast Cancer Family Registry (n = 811 sister sets), we examined whether sisters with breast cancer differ with respect to alcohol consumption and alcohol metabolism (measured by polymorphisms in ADH1B and ADH1C) compared to their sisters without breast cancer. Neither alcohol drinking nor alcohol metabolizing ADH1B and ADH1C genotypes were associated with breast cancer risk. However, only 19% and 42% of sisters were discordant by ADH1B and ADH1C, respectively, and even fewer were discordant by both genotype and alcohol intake, making it difficult to detect differences if they existed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded through grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Program of Research Integrating Substance Use in Mainstream Healthcare (PRISM), the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism administered by the Treatment Research Institute (A.T. McLellan, Ph.D., and B.J.Turner, M.D. Co-Directors), and ES09089. The Breast Cancer Family Registry Resource is funded by the United States National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under Request for Application CA-95–003 and through cooperative agreements with the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Columbia University, the Northern California Cancer Center, Cancer Care Ontario, The University of Melbourne and The University of California, Irvine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, Room 724, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Mary Beth Terry, Lydia Zablotska & Ruby T. Senie

  2. Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Mary Beth Terry, Ruby T. Senie & Regina M. Santella

  3. Prosserman Centre for Health Research, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, M5G 1X5

    Julia A. Knight & Laurent Briollais

  4. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Qiao Wang & Regina M. Santella

  5. Northern California Cancer Center, Fremont, CA, 94538, USA

    Esther M. John

  6. Ontario Cancer Genetics Network, Cancer Care Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 2LZ

    Irene L. Andrulis

  7. Fred Litwin Centre for Cancer Genetics, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, M5G1X5

    Irene L. Andrulis & Hilmi Ozcelik

  8. Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, 19111, USA

    Mary Daly

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  1. Mary Beth Terry
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  2. Julia A. Knight
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  3. Lydia Zablotska
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  4. Qiao Wang
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  7. Ruby T. Senie
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  10. Laurent Briollais
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  11. Regina M. Santella
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Correspondence to Mary Beth Terry.

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Terry, M.B., Knight, J.A., Zablotska, L. et al. Alcohol metabolism, alcohol intake, and breast cancer risk: a sister-set analysis using the Breast Cancer Family Registry. Breast Cancer Res Treat 106, 281–288 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-007-9498-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-007-9498-7

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