Postpartum breast cancer has a distinct molecular profile that predicts poor outcomes.
Sonali JindalNathan D PennockDuanchen SunWesley HortonMichelle K OzakiJayasri NarasimhanAlexandra Q BartlettSheila WeinmannPaul E GossVirginia F BorgesZheng XiaPepper J SchedinPublished in: Nature communications (2021)
Young women's breast cancer (YWBC) has poor prognosis and known interactions with parity. Women diagnosed within 5-10 years of childbirth, defined as postpartum breast cancer (PPBC), have poorer prognosis compared to age, stage, and biologic subtype-matched nulliparous patients. Genomic differences that explain this poor prognosis remain unknown. In this study, using RNA expression data from clinically matched estrogen receptor positive (ER+) cases (n = 16), we observe that ER+ YWBC can be differentiated based on a postpartum or nulliparous diagnosis. The gene expression signatures of PPBC are consistent with increased cell cycle, T-cell activation and reduced estrogen receptor and TP53 signaling. When applied to a large YWBC cohort, these signatures for ER+ PPBC associate with significantly reduced 15-year survival rates in high compared to low expressing cases. Cumulatively these results provide evidence that PPBC is a unique entity within YWBC with poor prognostic phenotypes.
Keyphrases
- estrogen receptor
- poor prognosis
- cell cycle
- long non coding rna
- gene expression
- end stage renal disease
- cell proliferation
- breast cancer risk
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- genome wide
- prognostic factors
- peritoneal dialysis
- copy number
- electronic health record
- adipose tissue
- young adults
- deep learning
- skeletal muscle
- single molecule
- nucleic acid
- pregnancy outcomes
- free survival
- patient reported
- childhood cancer
- weight loss