Risk factors for Luminal A ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive breast cancer in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study

by Lindsay A. Williams, Patricia Casbas-Hernandez, Hazel B. Nichols, Chiu Kit Tse, Emma H. Allott, Lisa A. Carey, Andrew F. Olshan, Melissa A. Troester

Purpose

Invasive breast cancers are thought to arise from in situ lesions, but some ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are indolent with low likelihood of progressing to invasive carcinoma. Comparison of risk factor associations between DCIS and invasive disease may elucidate which factors influence early versus late stages of carcinogenesis. Therefore, we determined whether there were differences in risk factor profiles for screen-detected DCIS and invasive breast cancer among Luminal A lesions.

Methods

We conducted a case-control analysis using data from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (1993–2001). Analyses were restricted to Luminal A tumors and screen-detected tumors among mammography-eligible women, to limit confounding by mode of detection (N = 108 DCIS; N = 203 invasive). Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations between risk factors and lesion type.

Results

In stratified analyses, we observed qualitative differences in the direction of association for ever smoking, obese BMI, high waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR), and ≥10 years of oral contraceptive use between DCIS and invasive disease. Breastfeeding was inversely associated with invasive disease and was not associated with DCIS. Interaction tests for risk factor associations between Luminal A DCIS and invasive breast cancer were not statistically significant (p>0.05).

Conclusions

Among Luminal A tumors, established breast cancer risk factors may exert stronger effects on progression of early lesions to invasive disease, with lesser effects on risk of DCIS.