Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor expression in breast cancer tissue and mammographic density

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) expression in breast cancer tissue and mammographic density and the clinical significance of IGF-1R overexpression. A total of 167 patients with primary invasive breast cancer were analyzed. Mammographic breast density and IGF-1R overexpression were correlated with clinicopathological parameters and analyzed by overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Increased breast tissue density was significantly associated with age, body mass index, menopausal status, histological grade and IGF-1R overexpression in the univariate analysis and with age (P=0.001), histological grade (P=0.045) and IGF-1R overexpression (P=0.021) in the multivariate analysis. IGF-1R overexpression was significantly associated with dense breast tissue in patients aged >40 years (P=0.002). IGF-1R overexpression in breast cancer in premenopausal women was associated with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) positivity (P=0.016) and worse DFS (P=0.0414). There was no significant difference in OS and DFS between dense and non-dense breast tissue. IGF-1R expression in breast cancer tissue was significantly associated with mammographic breast tissue density in patients aged >40 years. It appears that IGF-1R expression in breast cancer tissue plays an important role in breast cancer in patients with dense breast tissue. In premenopausal women, IGF-1R overexpression in breast cancer tissue was significantly associated with HER-2 positivity and poor DFS.