Background: Gene expression profiling has led to a subclassification of breast cancers independent of established clinical parameters, such as the Sorlie-Perou subtypes. Mammographic density (MD) is one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer, but it is unknown if MD is associated with molecular subtypes of this carcinoma.
Methods: We investigated whether MD was associated with breast cancer subtypes in 110 women with breast cancer, operated in Stockholm, Sweden, during 1994 to 1996. Subtypes were defined using expression data from HGU133A+B chips. The MD of the unaffected breast was measured using the Cumulus software. We used multinomial logistic models to investigate the relationship between MD and Sorlie-Perou subtypes.
Results: Although the distribution of molecular subtypes differed in women with high vs low MD, this was statistically non-significant (P=0.249), and further analyses revealed no association between the MD and Sorlie-Perou subtypes as a whole, nor with individual subtypes.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that although MD is one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer, it does not seem to be differentially associated with breast cancer molecular subtypes. However, larger studies with more comprehensive covariate information are needed to confirm these results.