[ CancerWeb Home
| Comments
| Up One Level ]
Original Summaries of Selected CANCERLIT Abstracts.
Cigarette Smoking and Breast Cancer
Last modified on:
Tuesday, April 20, 1999 10:52:30
Copyright © 1994-2008, Information Ventures, Inc.
Smoking is not considered to be a risk factor for breast cancer, but a report (ICDB/95609460) casts doubt on this, at least for those with special genetic makeup. This case-control study involved 159 postmenopausal Caucasian women with primary, confirmed breast cancer and 203 population controls. The study examined the levels of an enzyme that carries out a reaction (acetylation) which eliminates certain carcinogens; it is genetically determined. Women whose genetic types were consistent with slow acetylation were at increased, dose-dependent, risk from smoking (p less than 0.001), while rapid acetylators were not. Among slow acetylators (56%), heavy smokers showed risks 8-fold higher than nonsmokers. This suggests that smoking may be an important risk factor for women with the slow, but not rapid, acetylation genotype.
September, 1995
Copyright (c) 1994-2008, Information Ventures, Inc.
Mail us at: Customer-Service@infoventures.com
http://infoventures.com