Abstract LB079: Circulating plasma phospholipid fatty acid levels & breast cancer risk in the CPS-II Nutrition Cohort
Authors: Matta Michele , Deubler Emily , Chajès Veronique , Gunter Marc , Murphy Neil , Gaudet Mia M. 
Published: July 2021

Circulating plasma phospholipid fatty acid levels and breast cancer risk in the CPS-II Nutrition Cohort

Background The association between dietary fat intake and breast cancer risk has been a source of controversy with conflicting results reported in past decades. Additional prospective studies that objectively measure circulating levels of fatty acids are now needed to better understand the associations between dietary fat and breast cancer development.

MethodsWe assessed the relation between breast cancer risk and plasma levels of 60 phospholipid fatty acids in a nested case-control study of 2,718 postmenopausal women (905 breast cancer cases and 1,813 matched controls) enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II) Nutrition Cohort. Blood samples were collected at baseline (1997-1998). Multivariable-adjusted conditional logistic regression models that included established breast cancer risk factors (alcohol use, postmenopausal hormone use, smoking status, waist circumference, body mass index, and weight change from age 18 years to blood draw) were used to compute odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The false discovery rate (FDR; q-value) was computed to control for multiple comparisons.

ResultsAfter adjustment for multiple comparisons and in continuous log-transformed multivariable models, plasma levels of myristic acid (a saturated fatty acid) were positively associated with breast cancer risk (OR per log-value, 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07-1.28; q-value = 0.03), with similar magnitude associations found for estrogen receptor (ER) positive and ER negative breast cancer (p-interaction = 0.39). Positive associations were also found for plasma levels of monounsaturated fatty acid (OR per log-value, 1.09, 95% CI: 1.00-1.18; q-value = 0.24), palmitoleic acid (OR per log-value, 1.14, 95% CI: 1.04-1.24; q-value = 0.09), palmitic acid (OR per log-value, 1.12, 95% CI: 1.01-1.24; q-value = 0.17), dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (OR per log-value, 1.14, 95% CI: 1.04-1.25; q-value = 0.09), and adrenic acid (OR per log-value, 1.13, 95% CI: 1.03-1.24; q-value = 0.11) with breast cancer risk; however, after adjustment for multiple comparisons these associations did not reach the threshold of statistical significance. Similarly, inverse associations between plasma levels of trans α-linolenic acid (OR per log-value, 0.85, 95% CI: 0.76-0.96; q-value = 0.09), heptadecanoic acid (OR per log-value, 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82-0.99; q-value = 0.17), and vaccenic acid (OR per log-value, 0.88, 95% CI: 0.80-0.97; q-value = 0.11) with breast cancer risk were not statistically significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons.

ConclusionThese findings suggest that higher circulating levels of myristic acid, that can be sourced from dietary intake of dairy foods or via de novo synthesis, may increase breast cancer risk. Additional studies are needed to replicate this finding and provide mechanistic insights.

Citation Format: Michele Matta, Emily Deubler, Veronique Chajès, Marc Gunter, Neil Murphy, Mia M. Gaudet. Circulating plasma phospholipid fatty acid levels & breast cancer risk in the CPS-II Nutrition Cohort [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr LB079.