Organochlorines and breast cancer risk by receptor status, tumor size, and grade (Canada) Christy G. Woolcott Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen‘s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6; Currently at the Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1 Kristan J. Aronson Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen‘s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 Wedad M. Hanna Department of Pathology, Women‘s College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1B2 Sandip K. SenGupta Department of Pathology, Queen‘s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 David R. McCready Surgical Oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2M9 Ernest E. Sterns Department of Surgery, Queen‘s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 Anthony B. Miller Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany Abstract Objective: We evaluated the association between organochlorines and breast cancer subtype defined by the tumor characteristics: estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, tumor size, and grade. Methods: A case–control study was conducted from 1995 to 1997 in Kingston and Toronto, Canada. Breast adipose tissue, taken from 217 cases and 213 biopsy controls frequency-matched on age, was analysed for 14 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and 10 pesticides. Results: Adjusting for age, geometric means of several organochlorines differed by estrogen receptor status and tumor grade (p < 0.05). Odds ratios (ORs) for each organochlorine relative to the common control group for breast cancers of differing subtype were compared using polytomous logistic regression. Although the ORs did not differ significantly by subtype, the ORs of PCBs and p, p¢-1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (DDE) were higher with risk of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer than estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. One of the most extreme differences was with DDE, where the OR for the association with risk of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer was 2.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0–5.4) in the uppermost tertile relative to the lowest, whereas the corresponding OR for risk of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer was 1.1 (95% CI 0.6–1.9). PCBs also tended to be more strongly positively associated with risk of larger and higher-grade tumors. Conclusions: The association between organochlorines and breast cancer risk did not significantly differ by subtype, but many PCBs were more strongly associated with tumors of poor prognosis. Cancer Causes and Control 12 (5):395-404, June 2001. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.