Steroid hormone measurements from different types of assays in relation to body mass index and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women: Reanalysis of eighteen prospective studies
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Epidemiological studies have examined breast cancer risk in relation to sex hormone concentrations
measured by different methods: ‘‘extraction’’ immunoassays (with prior purification by organic solvent
extraction, with or without column chromatography), ‘‘direct’’ immunoassays (no prior extraction or column
chromatography), and more recently with mass spectrometry-based assays. We describe the associations
of estradiol, estrone and testosterone with both body mass index and breast cancer risk in
postmenopausal women according to assay method, using data from a collaborative pooled analysis of
18 prospective studies. In general, hormone concentrations were highest in studies that used direct
assays and lowest in studies that used mass spectrometry-based assays. Estradiol and estrone were
strongly positively associated with body mass index, regardless of the assay method; testosterone was
positively associated with body mass index for direct assays, but less clearly for extraction assays, and
there were few data for mass spectrometry assays. The correlations of estradiol with body mass index,
estrone and testosterone were lower for direct assays than for extraction and mass spectrometry assays,
suggesting that the estimates from the direct assays were less precise. For breast cancer risk, all three
hormones were strongly positively associated with risk regardless of assay method (except for testosterone
by mass spectrometry where there were few data), with no statistically significant differences in the
trends, but differences may emerge as new data accumulate. Future epidemiological and clinical research
studies should continue to use the most accurate assays that are feasible within the design characteristics
of each study.
measured by different methods: ‘‘extraction’’ immunoassays (with prior purification by organic solvent
extraction, with or without column chromatography), ‘‘direct’’ immunoassays (no prior extraction or column
chromatography), and more recently with mass spectrometry-based assays. We describe the associations
of estradiol, estrone and testosterone with both body mass index and breast cancer risk in
postmenopausal women according to assay method, using data from a collaborative pooled analysis of
18 prospective studies. In general, hormone concentrations were highest in studies that used direct
assays and lowest in studies that used mass spectrometry-based assays. Estradiol and estrone were
strongly positively associated with body mass index, regardless of the assay method; testosterone was
positively associated with body mass index for direct assays, but less clearly for extraction assays, and
there were few data for mass spectrometry assays. The correlations of estradiol with body mass index,
estrone and testosterone were lower for direct assays than for extraction and mass spectrometry assays,
suggesting that the estimates from the direct assays were less precise. For breast cancer risk, all three
hormones were strongly positively associated with risk regardless of assay method (except for testosterone
by mass spectrometry where there were few data), with no statistically significant differences in the
trends, but differences may emerge as new data accumulate. Future epidemiological and clinical research
studies should continue to use the most accurate assays that are feasible within the design characteristics
of each study.
Date Issued
2014-10-07
Date Acceptance
2014-08-22
Citation
Steroids, 2014, 99, pp.49-55
ISSN
0039-128X
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
49
End Page
55
Journal / Book Title
Steroids
Volume
99
Copyright Statement
© 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Breast cancer
Estradiol
Body mass index
Extraction immunoassay
Direct immunoassay
Mass spectrometry
ESTROGEN METABOLISM
SERUM ESTRADIOL
TESTOSTERONE
ANDROGEN
SHBG
Publication Status
Published