Background: Recent studies have identified several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with the risk of breast cancer and parity and age at first childbirth are well established and important risk factors for breast cancer. The aim of the present study was to examine the interaction between these environmental factors and genetic variants on breast cancer risk.
Methods: The Malmö Diet and Cancer Study (MDCS) included 17 035 female participants, from which 728 incident breast cancer cases were matched to 1448 controls. The associations between 14 SNPs and breast cancer risk were investigated in different strata of parity and age at first childbirth. A logistic regression analysis for the per allele risk, adjusted for potential confounders yielded odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results: Six of the previously identified SNPs showed a statistically significant association with breast cancer risk: rs2981582 (FGFR2), rs3803662 (TNRC9), rs12443621 (TNRC9), rs889312 (MAP3K1), rs3817198 (LSP1) and rs2107425 (H19). We could not find any statistically significant interaction between the effects of tested SNPs and parity/age at first childbirth on breast cancer risk after adjusting for multiple comparisons.
Conclusions: The results of this study are in agreement with previous studies of null interactions between tested SNPs and parity/age at first childbirth with regard to breast cancer risk.