P53, Environmental Risk Factors and Breast Cancer: A Population Based Study

摘要

The presence of p53 mutations in tumor tissue have been hypothesized to represent a 'fingerprint' of environmental carcinogens. As a first step in testing this hypothesis in breast cancer in humans, we are evaluating whether risk for women with tumors that show p53 protein overexpression (1)53+ assessed by immunohistochemistry in relation to certain environmental exposures, such as hormone replacement therapy, alcohol use, cigarette smoking, DDT levels in blood, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH-DNA adducts), is higher than risk among women with tumors that show no p53 protein overexpression (1)(53-), as compared with population-based controls. For this molecular epidemiology project, archived tumor tissue is being retrieved for the case participants of the NIH-funded parent study, the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project. The retrieved archived tumor tissue is being cut and prepared to establish a tumor bank that can be linked to - already collected risk factor data and stored samples of blood and urine. Two prepared slides per subject are being utilized for the p53 immunohistochemical assays. The lab data from the molecular epidemiology component will be coupled with the risk factor data on the respondents of the parent study to perform statistical analyses to evaluate the hypothesis of the molecular epidemiology component.