Joint effects of febrile acute infection and an interferon-γ polymorphism on breast cancer risk.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

There is an inverse relationship between febrile infection and the risk of malignancies. Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) plays an important role in fever induction and its expression increases with incubation at fever-range temperatures. Therefore, the genetic polymorphism of IFN-γ may modify the association of febrile infection with breast cancer risk.

METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:

Information on potential breast cancer risk factors, history of fever during the last 10 years, and blood specimens were collected from 839 incident breast cancer cases and 863 age-matched controls between October 2008 and June 2010 in Guangzhou, China. IFN-γ (rs2069705) was genotyped using a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry platform. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using multivariate logistic regression. We found that women who had experienced ≥1 fever per year had a decreased risk of breast cancer [ORs and 95% CI: 0.77 (0.61-0.99)] compared to those with less than one fever a year. This association only occurred in women with CT/TT genotypes [0.54 (0.37-0.77)] but not in those with the CC genotype [1.09 (0.77-1.55)]. The association of IFN-γ rs2069705 with the risk of breast cancer was not significant among all participants, while the CT/TT genotypes were significantly related to an elevated risk of breast cancer [1.32 (1.03-1.70)] among the women with <1 fever per year and to a reduced risk of breast cancer [0.63 (0.40-0.99)] among women with ≥1 fever per year compared to the CC genotype. A marked interaction between fever frequencies and the IFN-γ genotypes was observed (P for multiplicative and additive interactions were 0.005 and 0.058, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS:

Our findings indicate a possible link between febrile acute infection and a decreased risk of breast cancer, and this association was modified by IFN-γ rs2069705.

• Authors: Yi Su, Lu-Ying Tang, Li-Juan Chen, Jian-Rong He, Feng-Xi Su, Ying Lin, Wei-Qing Chen, Xiao-Ming Xie, Ze-Fang Ren
• Journal: PloS one (PLoS One) Vol. 7 Issue 5 Pg. e37275 ( 2012) ISSN: 1932-6203 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 22624006 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Interferon-gamma

Topics

• Breast Neoplasms (epidemiology, etiology)
• China (epidemiology)
• Female
• Fever (epidemiology)
• Genotype
• Humans
• Immunohistochemistry
• Interferon-gamma (genetics, metabolism)
• Logistic Models
• Odds Ratio
• Polymorphism, Genetic (genetics)
• Risk Factors
• Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization