ArticleCancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology2025
Contribution of Prediagnostic Host Factors to Shaping the Stromal Microenvironment of Breast Cancer among Sub-Saharan African Women.
Article in Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of breast cancer risk factors on the tumor microenvironment: a morphological deep-learning analysis of three prospective cohorts.NPJ breast cancer · 2026Article
- Methylation profiling of normal tissue adjacent to breast tumors reveals two distinct groups with divergent tumor microenvironment features.NPJ breast cancer · 2026Article
- Impact of Distinct Molecular and Immunological Features of Breast Cancer on the Effectiveness of Therapies in Ghana.Breast cancer : basic and clinical research · 2026Review
- Unraveling the role of stromal disruption in aggressive breast cancer etiology and outcomes.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2025Article
- Spatially Resolved Single-Cell Morphometry of Benign Breast Disease Biopsy Images Uncovers Quantitative Cytomorphometric Features Predictive of Subsequent Invasive Breast Cancer Risk.Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc · 2025Article
- Unveiling the Stroma: Reproductive Factors and the Tumor Microenvironment in African Breast Cancer.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2025Article
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Abstract
backgroundThe stromal microenvironment (SME) is integral to breast cancer biology, impacting metastatic proclivity and treatment response. Emerging data indicate that host factors may impact the SME, but the relationship between prediagnostic host factors and SME phenotype remains poorly characterized, particularly among women of African ancestry.
methodsWe conducted a case-only analysis involving 792 patients with breast cancer (17-84 years) from the Ghana Breast Health Study. High-accuracy machine-learning algorithms were applied to standard H&E-stained images to characterize SME phenotypes [including percent tumor-associated connective tissue stroma, Ta-CTS (%); tumor-associated stromal cellular density, Ta-SCD (%)]. Associations between prediagnostic host factors and SME phenotypes were assessed in multivariable linear regression models.
resultsDecreasing Ta-CTS and increasing Ta-SCD were associated with aggressive, mostly high-grade tumors (P-value < 0.001). Several prediagnostic host factors were associated with Ta-SCD independently of tumor characteristics. Compared with nulliparous women, parous women had higher levels of Ta-SCD [mean (standard deviation, SD) = 31.3% (7.6%) vs. 28.9% (7.1%); P-value = 0.01]. Similarly, women with a positive family history of breast cancer had higher levels of Ta-SCD than those without family history [mean (SD) = 33.0% (7.5%)] vs. 30.9% (7.6%); P-value = 0.03]. Conversely, increasing body size was associated with decreasing Ta-SCD [mean (SD) = 31.6% (7.4%), 31.4% (7.3%), and 30.1% (8.0%) for slight, average, and large body sizes, respectively; P-value = 0.005].
conclusionsEpidemiological risk factors were associated with varying degrees of stromal cellularity in tumors, independently of clinicopathological characteristics. IMPACT: The findings raise the possibility that epidemiological risk factors may partly influence tumor biology via the stromal microenvironment. See related In the Spotlight, p. 459.
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