Link strongest with prostate cancer; persists after excluding family history of breast cancer
FRIDAY, Dec. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Lobular breast cancer is associated with having a father diagnosed with cancer, most commonly prostate cancer; and this association is independent of a family history of breast cancer, according to a study published online Nov. 28 in BMC Cancer.
Carolina Ellberg and Hakan Olsson, M.D., Ph.D., from Lund University in Sweden, examined the correlation between lobular breast cancer and family history to identify new hereditary patterns predisposing for cancer. In 1,676 consecutive breast cancer patients, the association between cancer in their first degree relatives and histopathological subtypes of breast cancer was investigated.
The investigators found a significant positive correlation between patients with lobular breast cancer and having a father diagnosed with cancer (odds ratio [OR], 2.16). The association remained even after excluding family history of breast cancer. Having a mother diagnosed with cancer was correlated with ductal breast cancer. Having a father with prostate cancer was significantly correlated with lobular breast cancer (OR, 2.4), with the younger patient group having a higher occurrence of having a father with prostate cancer (OR, 2.9). This correlation remained high but lost statistical significance in the older patient group (OR, 1.9; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.5 to 7.4). Even after excluding fathers with prostate cancer, the correlation between lobular breast cancer and a father diagnosed with cancer remained significant (OR, 1.94). Sarcoma and leukemia were some of the other commonly occurring tumor types in the father.
"Since the association remained after excluding family history of breast cancer, the association seems independent of classical breast cancer heredity," the authors write.
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