Modest Association Between C-reactive Protein, Breast Cancer Risk

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

Higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a nonspecific marker of inflammation, were suggestive of an association with increased breast cancer risk, according to an article published online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

In this study, 943 cases from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and 1,919 cases from the Women’s Health Study (WHS) were evaluated.

Results showed higher CRP levels were associated with a greater risk of breast cancer for those in the NHS (quintile 5 vs. 1: RR, 1.27; 95% CI: 0.93, 1.73; P _trend = 0.02). However, no correlation between CRP levels and breast cancer risk were observed in the WHS (quintile 5 vs. 1: RR, 0.89; 95% CI: 0.76, 1.06; P _trend = 0.38).

The random effect meta-analysis conducted on the data showed a slightly increased risk in women with the highest versus lowest levels of CRP (RR, 1.26; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.49).