Does oral contraceptive use increase the risk of breast cancer in women with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations more than in other women?
We conducted a study to determine whether the risk of breast cancer associated with oral contraceptive (OC) use is higher in women with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations than in other women by examining whether breast cancer patients with these mutations were more likely than breast cancer patients without mutations in BRCA1/BRCA2 to have used OCs. We tested for BRCA1 185delAG and 5382insC and BRCA2 6174delT mutations in a population-based sample of 50 young Ashkenazi Jewish breast cancer patients. Nine patients (18%) had a BRCA1 mutation, and five patients (10%) had a BRCA2 mutation. Long-term OC use (>48 months) before a first full-term pregnancy was associated with an elevated risk of being classified as a mutBRCA carrier (odds ratio, 7.8; trend, P = 0.004). The results suggest that OC use may increase the risk of breast cancer more in mutBRCA carriers than in noncarriers; however, they must be interpreted with caution given the small sample size.
Ursin
G
G
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles 90033, USA.
Henderson
B E
BE
Haile
R W
RW
Pike
M C
MC
Zhou
N
N
Diep
A
A
Bernstein
L
L
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D019398:Genes, BRCA1 / Q000235:genetics; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor / Q000235:genetics*; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral