IGF1 and risk of additional breast cancer in the WHEL study

IGF1, IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), IGFBP-1, insulin, leptin, and adiponectin have been inconsistently associated with breast cancer incidence. We explore how these factors are related to breast cancer recurrence and how tamoxifen treatment is related to IGF1 levels among breast cancer survivors in the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) study. A nested case-control design was used to match breast cancer cases (who had an additional breast cancer event) to controls. Baseline blood samples from 510 matched cases and controls were analyzed for IGF1 levels; a subset of 188 pairs were analyzed for five other hormones and binding proteins. Median follow-up was 7.3 years. Matching was on recruitment site, cancer stage, age at cancer diagnosis, dates of cancer diagnosis, and randomization. Cox proportional hazards regression models, stratified on case-control pair, were used to assess the associations. Insulin, IGFBP-1, IGFBP-3, leptin, and adiponectin did not significantly predict recurrence of breast cancer. IGF1 was positively, but not significantly, associated with recurrence (hazard ratio (HR): 1.33 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.98-1.81)) in the unadjusted analyses. Adjusting for menopausal status and tamoxifen use attenuated the HR to 1.07 (95% CI 0.76-1.40). Analyses of case-control pairs with discordant tamoxifen use show opposing HR: IGF1 predicts higher risk of recurrence if cases did not receive tamoxifen treatment. In conclusion, no significant association was found between IGF1 levels, or other related factors, and risk of additional breast cancer among breast cancer survivors. Tamoxifen can confound analysis of IGF1 and recurrence. This supports re-evaluating significance of IGF1 to breast cancer recurrence.