Association between Different Types of Allergy Disorders, Total Immunoglobulin E and Risk of Breast Cancer

Author: Mohammad Shirkhoda, MD1,2, Reza Ghiasvand, Ph.D.3, Fatemeh Sadeghi, M.Sc.1,4*, Mohammad Hassan Bemanian, MD5, Azam Noormohammadi, M.Sc.1, Ramesh Omranipour, M.D.2* and Kazem Zendehdel, MD, Ph.D.1

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Abstract

We aimed to investigate the association between history of allergic disorders, total IgE level and risk of Breast Cancer (BC). A case-control study was conducted and 168 BC patients and 165 controls were enrolled. Participants were interviewed in details about history of allergic disorders and allergic symptoms. In addition, total IgE levels was measured. A significant decrease was observed in risk of BC among participants with history of asthma compared to non-asthmatic participants in both univariate (P=0.0083) and multivariate analysis (P=0.035). Total IgE level above 25 IU/ml, was determined as borderline significant associated with BC in univariate analysis (P=0.07). However, the association was not significant in multivariate analysis. The association between atopy, defined by IgE level, and risk of BC may differ from the association investigated through clinically defined diseases such as asthma. Further study is recommended using a larger sample size and application of IgE spec

Keywords

Allergy; Atopy, Asthma; IgE; Breast cancer, Developing countries

Conclusion

Our study suggests that asthma might decrease the risk of BC. In addition, some association was found in other subgroups of allergy disorders, although the results were not statistically significant. Further studies with larger sample size are required to confirm the findings of the present study. The mechanism behind an association between the risk of BC and allergic disorder is likely associated with a complex combination of immunological pathways and other predisposing risk factors. Advances in the understanding of cancer and immunology may give further clues to the role of atopic disorders in the risk of some types of cancer.

References

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer diagnosis and the leading cause of cancer-related death among women worldwide. There were an estimated 1.7 million new cases and 521,900 deaths in 2012 (Torre et al., 2015). Besides, the prevalence of allergy and atopy has increased dramatically in recent decades. It is currently estimated that up to 40% of the people worldwide are sensitive (IgE antibodies) to foreign proteins in the environment (Weinberg, 2011) and asthma occurs in roughly 5 - 15% of the general population (Corren, 1997). However, there is considerable geographic difference in prevalence and types of allergen. It is estimated that in I.R of Iran, 20% of total population reported at least one allergic condition (Entezari et al., 2009). Many studies have evaluated the association between history of allergy and risk of cancer. A negative association has been reported in cancers of colorectal (Tambe et al., 2015; Kune et al., 2007) and pancreatic (Gomez-Rubio et al., 2015) an

How to cite this article

Mohammad Shirkhoda, MD, Reza Ghiasvand, Ph.D., Fatemeh Sadeghi, M.Sc.,*, Mohammad Hassan Bemanian, MD5, Azam Noormohammadi, M.Sc., Ramesh Omranipour, M.D.* and Kazem Zendehdel, MD, Ph.D. Association between Different Types of Allergy Disorders, Total Im