paywalled: Lipid Profiles and Risk of Breast and Ovarian Cancer in the Swedish AMORIS Study

WIKI: Lipid metabolism refers to the processes that involve the intercourse and degradation of lipids.
The types of lipids involved include:

• Bile salts
• Cholesterols
• Eicosanoids
• Glycolipids
• Ketone bodies
• Fatty acids - see also fatty acid metabolism
• Phospholipids
• Sphingolipids
• Steroid - see also steroidogenesis
• Triacylglycerols (fats) - see also lipolysis and lipogenesis

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Lipid Profiles and Risk of Breast and Ovarian Cancer in the Swedish AMORIS Study

Background: 

Obesity is a risk factor for breast (BCa) and ovarian cancer (OCa); the mechanisms of action are not completely understood. Perturbed lipid metabolism often accompanies obesity; we therefore ascertained the associations between lipid components and BCa and OCa risk in a prospective cohort study. 

Methods: 

234,494 women with baseline measurements of triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol(TC) and glucose were selected from the AMORIS database. 27,394 had measurements of HDL,LDL, apolipoprotein (Apo) B and A-I. Associations between quartiles and dichotomized values of lipid components and BCa and OCa risk were analysed using Cox proportional hazard models.

Results: 

We identified 6,105 women diagnosed with BCa and 808 women diagnosed with OCa. A weak trend was observed between TG and BCa (HR: 1.01 (CI95% 0.94-1.09), 0.93 (0.86-1.00) 0.91 (0.84-0.99) 2nd 3rd and 4th quartiles; P = 0.01). No other associations between lipid components and risk of BCa or OCa showed statistical significance. 

Conclusions: 

A weak protective association was found between levels of TG and risk of BCa. 

Impact: An analysis including information on tumour characteristics of OCa and BCa may provide more insight in possible links between lipid metabolism and the risk of these cancers.