Duke University Medical Center, Box 2628, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2011 Mar;20(3):476-82. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-10-0847. Epub 2011 Jan 17.
Obesity is a well-established risk factor for cancer, accounting for up to 20% of cancer deaths in women. Studies of women with breast cancer have shown obesity to be associated with an increased risk of dying from breast cancer and increased risk of developing distant metastasis. While previous studies have focused on differences in circulating hormone levels as a cause for increased breast cancer incidence in postmenopausal women, few studies have focused on potential differences in the protein expression patterns of mammary epithelial cells obtained from obese versus nonobese women.
Protein expression was assessed by reverse-phase protein microarray in mammary epithelial cells from 31 random periareolar fine needle aspirations performed on 26 high-risk women.
In this pilot and exploratory study, vimentin (unadjusted P=0.028) expression was significantly different between obese and nonobese women.
Vimentin is integral both to adipocyte structure and function and to the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition needed for cancer cell metastasis. Further research is needed to confirm this finding and determine the possible effects of the adipocyte microenvironment on the initiation and progression of breast cancer in high-risk women.
Differential protein expression patterns obtained from a future expanded study may serve to elaborate the underlying pathology of breast cancer initiation and progression in obese women and identify potential biomarkers of response to preventative interventions such as dietary changes and exercise.
肥胖是癌症的一个既定危险因素，占女性癌症死亡人数的 20%。对乳腺癌女性的研究表明，肥胖与乳腺癌死亡风险增加和远处转移风险增加有关。虽然之前的研究集中在循环激素水平的差异上，认为其是绝经后女性乳腺癌发病率增加的原因，但很少有研究关注肥胖和非肥胖女性乳腺上皮细胞的蛋白质表达模式的潜在差异。
对 26 名高危女性的 31 次随机乳晕周围细针抽吸术获得的乳腺上皮细胞进行反相蛋白微阵列评估蛋白质表达。
在这项初步和探索性研究中，肥胖和非肥胖女性之间的波形蛋白（未调整的 P=0.028）表达存在显著差异。
波形蛋白是脂肪细胞结构和功能的组成部分，也是癌细胞转移所需的上皮-间充质转化所必需的。需要进一步的研究来证实这一发现，并确定脂肪细胞微环境对高危女性乳腺癌发生和进展的可能影响。
未来扩大研究获得的差异蛋白质表达模式可能有助于阐述肥胖女性乳腺癌发生和进展的潜在病理学，并确定对预防干预（如饮食改变和运动）的反应的潜在生物标志物。
