Advanced glycation end products and breast cancer risk in a sample of the ORDET cohort

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for breast cancer, especially postmenopausal breast cancer. We evaluated the role of the advanced glycated end products (AGEs) levels contributing to the association between MetS and breast cancer risk.

Methods: Plasma AGEs were measured in a case-control study nested within the Hormones and Diet in the Etiology of Breast Tumors (ORDET) cohort, including 40 incident postmenopausal breast cancer cases (20 with MetS and 20 without) and 40 postmenopausal controls (20 with MetS and 20 without). The association between AGEs and breast cancer was analyzed using Bayesian logistic regression models. An informative prior for the exposure coefficient, modeled as a normal distribution, centered on the natural logarithm of an odds ratio ((OR)=1.635) derived from prior evidence, was employed alongside weakly informative priors (WIPs). Bayesian linear regression with WIPs was used to examine the association between MetS and AGEs. Estimates were reported with SDs and 90% and 95% credible intervals (CI).

Results: AGEs were associated with higher breast cancer risk both with the informative prior (OR = 1.745, SD):0.362; 90% CI:1.218-2.390; 95% CI:1.137-2.548) and the WIP (OR = 1.861, SD = 0.661; 90% CI:1.026-3.082; 95% CI:0.924-3.528) specification. Although the difference in plasma AGEs in women with and without MetS was not significant, we found a suggestion of higher levels in women with MetS (mean difference in standardized AGEs between individuals with and without MetS = 0.155, SD = 0.245; 90% CI:-0.246 to 0.553; 95% CI:-0.322 to 0.625).

Conclusions: These data, although from a small sample of women, support a role of endogenous AGEs in the pathological pathways underlying the association between MetS and breast cancer development.