%0 Journal Article
%T Is breast cancer prognosis inherited?
%A Mikael Hartman
%A Linda Lindstr£żm
%A Paul W Dickman
%A Hans-Olov Adami
%A Per Hall
%A Kamila Czene
%J Breast Cancer Research
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/bcr1737
%X We carried out a population-based cohort study in Sweden based on the nationwide Multi-Generation Register. Among all women with breast cancer diagnosed from 1961 to 2001, 2,787 mother-daughter pairs and 831 sister pairs with breast cancer were identified; we achieved complete follow-up and classified 5-year breast cancer-specific prognosis among proband (mother or oldest sister) into tertiles as poor, intermediary, or good. We used Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival proportions and Cox models to calculate relative risks of dying from breast cancer within 5 years depending on the proband's outcome.The 5-year survival proportion among daughters whose mothers died within 5 years was 87% compared to 91% if the mother was alive (p = 0.03). Among sisters, the corresponding proportions were 70% and 88%, respectively (p = 0.001). After adjustment for potential confounders, daughters and sisters of a proband with poor prognosis had a 60% higher 5-year breast cancer mortality compared to those of a proband with good prognosis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2 to 2.2; p for trend 0.002). This association was slightly stronger among sisters (HR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.0 to 3.4) than among daughters (HR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1 to 2.3).Breast cancer prognosis of a woman predicts the survival in her first-degree relatives with breast cancer. Our novel findings suggest that breast cancer prognosis might be inherited.Breast cancer, the most common female malignancy, has an important genetic contribution estimated to 25% to 28% [1,2]. Mutations in high-penetrant genes such as BRCA1 (breast cancer 1, early onset) and BRCA2 account for only a small proportion of this hereditary component, suggesting an important but yet-to-be-detected role for low-penetrant single nucleotide polymorphisms. Overall, the prognosis of women with a family history of breast cancer has been reported as similar or worse compared to women without a family history [3-6]. A relatively poor outcome ha
%U http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/9/3/R39