Pregnancy-associated breast cancers: Do they differ from other breast cancers in young women?

• Published in: Breast (Edinburgh) Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 550 - 555
• Main Authors: Genin, Anne-Sophie, Lesieur, Bénédicte, Gligorov, Joseph, Antoine, Martine, Selleret, Lise, Rouzier, Roman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2012
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cohort Studies; Female; Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine; Humans; Immuno-phenotype; Lymphatic Metastasis; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Neoplasm Staging; Post-partum; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic - metabolism; Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic - pathology; Puerperal Disorders - metabolism; Puerperal Disorders - pathology; Receptor, ErbB-2 - metabolism; Retrospective Studies; Pregnancy; Post-partum; Breast cancer; Immuno-phenotype
• ISSN: 0960-9776; 1532-3080
• DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2012.05.002

Abstract The impact of pregnancy in the physiopathology of pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is still unclear. We compared the characteristics of PABCs and breast cancers not associated with pregnancy (non-PABCs) in terms of their loco-regional invasion and histological phenotype. We conducted a retrospective chart review on women less than 43 years of age treated for breast cancer from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2010. We compared age at diagnosis, loco-regional invasion and histological data. We recorded 282 breast cancers in 276 patients. Forty-one tumors (14.5%) were PABCs. PABC patients were significantly younger than non-PABC patients. Compared with the non-PABCs, PABCs were twice more frequent advanced tumors (T3-4) and have twice more frequent HER2 over-expression and hormone negative status. The more aggressive histological profile observed in the PABCs, especially in post-partum tumors and women older than 35 years of age, seems to be a direct consequence of the association with pregnancy.