| 1. |
- Ugalde-Morales, Emilio, et al.
(författare)
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Association between breast cancer risk and disease aggressiveness : Characterizing underlying gene expression patterns
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 148:4, s. 884-894
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The association between breast cancer risk defined by the Tyrer-Cuzick score (TC) and disease prognosis is not well established. Here, we investigated the relationship between 5-year TC and disease aggressiveness and then characterized underlying molecular processes. In a case-only study (n = 2474), we studied the association of TC with molecular subtypes and tumor characteristics. In a subset of patients (n = 672), we correlated gene expression to TC and computed a low-risk TC gene expression (TC-Gx) profile, that is, a profile expected to be negatively associated with risk, which we used to test for association with disease aggressiveness. We performed enrichment analysis to pinpoint molecular processes likely to be altered in low-risk tumors. A higher TC was found to be inversely associated with more aggressive surrogate molecular subtypes and tumor characteristics (P <.05) including Ki-67 proliferation status (P < 5 × 10−07). Our low-risk TC-Gx, based on the weighted sum of 37 expression values of genes strongly correlated with TC, was associated with basal-like (P < 5 × 10−13), HER2-enriched subtype (P < 5 × 10−07) and worse 10-year breast cancer-specific survival (log-rank P < 5 × 10−04). Associations between low-risk TC-Gx and more aggressive molecular subtypes were replicated in an independent cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas database (n = 975). Gene expression that correlated with low TC was enriched in proliferation and oncogenic signaling pathways (FDR < 0.05). Moreover, higher proliferation was a key factor explaining the association with worse survival. Women who developed breast cancer despite having a low risk were diagnosed with more aggressive tumors and had a worse prognosis, most likely driven by increased proliferation. Our findings imply the need to establish risk factors associated with more aggressive breast cancer subtypes.
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| 2. |
- Ugalde-Morales, Emilio, et al.
(författare)
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Common shared genetic variation behind decreased risk of breast cancer in celiac disease
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is epidemiologic evidence showing that women with celiac disease have reduced risk of later developing breast cancer, however, the etiology of this association is unclear. Here, we assess the extent of genetic overlap between the two diseases. Through analyses of summary statistics on densely genotyped immunogenic regions, we show a significant genetic correlation (r = -0.17, s.e. 0.05, P < 0.001) and overlap (Ppermuted < 0.001) between celiac disease and breast cancer. Using individuallevel genotype data from a Swedish cohort, we find higher genetic susceptibility to celiac disease summarized by polygenic risk scores to be associated with lower breast cancer risk (ORper-SD, 0.94, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.98). Common single nucleotide polymorphisms between the two diseases, with low P-values (P-CD < 1.00E-05, P-BC <= 0.05), mapped onto genes enriched for immunoregulatory and apoptotic processes. Our results suggest that the link between breast cancer and celiac disease is due to a shared polygenic variation of immune related regions, uncovering pathways which might be important for their development.
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| 3. |
- Ugalde-Morales, Emilio, et al.
(författare)
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Interval breast cancer is associated with interferon immune response
- 2022
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Ingår i: European Journal of Cancer. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-8049 .- 1879-0852. ; 162, s. 194-205
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The aggressive nature of breast cancers detected between planned mammographic screens, so-called interval cancers, remains elusive. Here, we aim to characterise underlying molecular features of interval cancer. Methods: From 672 patients with invasive breast cancer, we analysed gene expression differences between 90 ‘true’ interval cancer cases (i.e. women with low-dense breasts defined as per cent mammographic density <25%) and 310 screen-detected tumours while accounting for PAM50 subtypes and thus overall tumour aggressiveness. We computed an interval cancer gene expression profile (IC-Gx) in a total of 2270 breast tumours (regardless of interval cancer status) and tested for association with expression-based immune subtypes in breast cancer. In addition, we investigated the contribution of inherited and somatic genetic variants in distinct features of interval cancer. Results: We identified 8331 genes nominally associated with interval cancer (P-value < 0.05, fold-change > 1.5). Gene set enrichment analysis showed immune-related pathways as key processes altered in interval cancer. Our IC-Gx, based on 47 genes with the strongest associations (false discovery rate < 0.05), was found to be associated mainly with immune subtypes involving interferon response. We isolated an interaction network of interval cancer and interferon genes for which a significant load of somatic and germline variants in class I interferon genes was observed. Conclusion: We identified novel molecular features of interval breast cancer highlighting interferon pathways as a potential target for prevention or treatment.
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| 4. |
- Ugalde Morales, Emilio
(författare)
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Molecular epidemiology studies on risk factors for breast cancer and disease aggressiveness
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease. Aggressive subtypes are characterized by faster growth rates, increased capability to invade and metastasize, leading to poorer clinical outcomes. In this thesis, we use a molecular epidemiology approach to investigate the association between risk factors and aggressive breast cancer defined by tumor characteristics, intrinsic subtypes, mode of detection, and survival. Using a variety of methods, we analyzed data from well-characterized breast cancer cohorts in Sweden, genome-wide association studies, and gene expression profiling of tumors. In Paper I, we found that breast cancer genetic load, defined by rare deleterious variants in 31 breast cancer genes, and unlike common variants, is positively associated with unfavorable tumor characteristics, patient survival, and mode of detection. In Paper II, we observed that women with low breast cancer risk defined by the Tyrer-Cuzick risk score were more likely to develop aggressive tumors. We computed a low-risk gene expression profile that was consistently associated with worse prognosis. In addition, our analysis showed that increased proliferation rather than estrogen status underlie this association. In Paper III, we examined gene expression profiles in a subset of aggressive breast cancer tumors, known as interval cancers. By taking mammographic density and intrinsic PAM50 subtypes into account, we found an interval cancer gene expression profile to be associated with immune subtypes in breast cancer, particularly those involving interferon response. In Paper IV, we show that breast cancer has a shared immune-related genetic component with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder. In consistency with previous epidemiological findings, we found that a higher genetic load for celiac disease was associated with lower breast cancer risk. Overall, this thesis aims to provide scientific evidence towards a better understanding of the factors underlying the development of aggressive breast cancers that could shed light on the design of better preventative strategies aimed at lowering disease mortality
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Yang, Haomin, et al.
(författare)
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Risk and predictors of psoriasis in patients with breast cancer : a Swedish population-based cohort study
- 2017
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Ingår i: BMC Medicine. - : BioMed Central. - 1741-7015. ; 15:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The risk of psoriasis in patients with breast cancer is largely unknown, as available evidence is limited to case findings. We systematically examined the incidence and risk factors of psoriasis in patients with breast cancer.METHODS: A Swedish nationwide cohort of 56,235 breast cancer patients (2001-2012) was compared to 280,854 matched reference individuals from the general population to estimate the incidence and hazard ratio (HR) of new-onset psoriasis. We also calculated HRs for psoriasis according to treatment, genetic, and lifestyle factors in a regional cohort of 8987 patients.RESULTS: In the nationwide cohort, 599 patients with breast cancer were diagnosed with psoriasis during a median follow-up of 5.1 years compared to 2795 cases in the matched reference individuals. This corresponded to an incidence rate of 1.9/1000 person-years in breast cancer patients vs. 1.7/1000 person-years in matched reference individuals. Breast cancer patients were at an increased risk of psoriasis (HR = 1.17; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07-1.28), especially its most common subtype (psoriasis vulgaris; HR = 1.33; 95% CI = 1.17-1.52). The risk of psoriasis vulgaris was highest shortly after diagnosis but remained increased up to 12 years. Treatment-specific analyses indicated a higher risk of psoriasis in patients treated with radiotherapy (HR = 2.44; 95% CI = 1.44-4.12) and mastectomy (HR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.03-2.31). Apart from treatment-specific effects, we identified genetic predisposition, obesity, and smoking as independent risk factors for psoriasis in breast cancer patients.CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of psoriasis is slightly elevated among patients with breast cancer, with treatment, lifestyle, and genetic factors defining the individual risk profile.
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