Breast cancer hormone receptor status and risk of a second primary tumor

Women with hormone receptor (HR) negative first tumors have twice as much risk for developing a second breast cancer as women with HR-positive tumors, according to a study published online July 9 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Christina A. Clarke, Ph.D., of the Northern California Cancer Center in Fremont, Calif., and colleagues examined data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database to analyze whether a first tumor's estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor content and the age or race of the woman has anything to do with her risk of a second tumor.

They found that women who have had breast cancer are at increased risk of a second primary breast cancer, compared with risk in the general population. They also found that women whose first tumors were hormone-receptor negative, compared with those whose tumors were hormone-receptor positive, had almost twice as much risk of any second breast cancer, and a five-fold increase in risk of a second hormone-receptor negative breast cancer.

"Future research should focus on identifying genetic factors that predispose women to multiple HR-negative tumors to target screening, prevention, and treatment strategies more effectively," the author writes.

Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute