ArticleBreast cancer research : BCR2017
Alcohol consumption and breast tumor gene expression.
Article in Breast cancer research : BCR, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations of alcohol consumption with expression of CD44, CD24, and ALDH1A1 stem cell markers in benign breast biopsy samples.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2025Article
- Regular aspirin use, breast tumor characteristics and long-term breast cancer survival.NPJ breast cancer · 2025Article
- The Breast Tumor Immune Microenvironment of DNA Double-Strand Break Repair Pathogenic Variant Carriers Is Enriched with Tumor-Associated Macrophages.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Article
- The impact of reproductive factors on breast tumor and normal-adjacent tissue immune profile from menarche to menopause.Carcinogenesis · 2025Article
- Germline polygenic risk scores are associated with immune gene expression signature and immune cell infiltration in breast cancer.American journal of human genetics · 2024Article
- Association of early menarche with breast tumor molecular features and recurrence.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2024Article
- Omics-Based Investigations of Breast Cancer.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Associations of breast cancer related exposures and gene expression profiles in normal breast tissue-The Norwegian Women and Cancer normal breast tissue study.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Associations of alcohol consumption with breast tissue composition.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2023Article
- Impact of Chemotherapy Regimens on Body Composition of Breast Cancer Women: A Multicenter Study across Four Brazilian Regions.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Association of body mass index and inflammatory dietary pattern with breast cancer pathologic and genomic immunophenotype in the nurses' health study.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2022Observational
- The Influence of Modifiable Factors on Breast and Prostate Cancer Risk and Disease Progression.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Review
- Early-Life Body Adiposity and the Breast Tumor Transcriptome.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2021Article
- Prospective study of a diabetes risk reduction diet and the risk of breast cancer.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2020Article
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- Involvement of fine particulate matter exposure with gene expression pathways in breast tumor and adjacent-normal breast tissue.Environmental research · 2020Article
- A review on methods for diagnosis of breast cancer cells and tissues.Cell proliferation · 2020Review
- Prediagnostic 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations in Relation to Tumor Molecular Alterations and Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2020Article
- The Association of Modifiable Breast Cancer Risk Factors and Somatic Genomic Alterations in Breast Tumors: The Cancer Genome Atlas Network.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2020Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 9 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlcohol consumption is an established risk factor for breast cancer and the association generally appears stronger among estrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumors. However, the biological mechanisms underlying this association are not completely understood.
methodsWe analyzed messenger RNA (mRNA) microarray data from both invasive breast tumors (N = 602) and tumor-adjacent normal tissues (N = 508) from participants diagnosed with breast cancer in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and NHSII. Multivariable linear regression, controlling for other known breast cancer risk factors, was used to identify differentially expressed genes by pre-diagnostic alcohol intake. For pathway analysis, we performed gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Differentially expressed genes or enriched pathway-defined gene sets with false discovery rate (FDR) <0.1 identified in tumors were validated in RNA sequencing data of invasive breast tumors (N = 166) from The Cancer Genome Atlas.
resultsNo individual genes were significantly differentially expressed by alcohol consumption in the NHS/NHSII. However, GSEA identified 33 and 68 pathway-defined gene sets at FDR <0.1 among 471 ER+ and 127 ER- tumors, respectively, all of which were validated. Among ER+ tumors, consuming 10+ grams of alcohol per day (vs. 0) was associated with upregulation in RNA metabolism and transport, cell cycle regulation, and DNA repair, and downregulation in lipid metabolism. Among ER- tumors, in addition to upregulation in RNA processing and cell cycle, alcohol intake was linked to overexpression of genes involved in cytokine signaling, including interferon and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling pathways, and translation and post-translational modifications. Lower lipid metabolism was observed in both ER+ tumors and ER+ tumor-adjacent normal samples. Most of the significantly enriched gene sets identified in ER- tumors showed a similar enrichment pattern among ER- tumor-adjacent normal tissues.
conclusionsOur data suggest that moderate alcohol consumption (i.e. 10+ grams/day, equivalent to one or more drinks/day) is associated with several specific and reproducible biological processes and pathways, which adds potential new insight into alcohol-related breast carcinogenesis.
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