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Breast cancer size in postmenopausal women is correlated with body mass index and androgen serum levels

Our objective was to investigate the effects of age, weight, body mass index (BMI), sex steroid receptor status and serum parameters such as estradiol, testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and leptin on the size of a malignant breast tumor. A total of 62 premenopausal (median age 44.0 years) and 151 postmenopausal (median age 59.1 years) Caucasian women undergoing lumpectomy or mastectomy for invasive breast cancer were examined. Patient parameters (age, body weight, BMI), tumor parameters (tumor size, estrogen and progesterone receptor status) and serum parameters (estradiol, testosterone, androstenedione, DHEAS and leptin) were measured. An increase of BMI and DHEAS levels was associated with larger tumors by partial correlation (rp) analysis (rp=0.418, p=0.008; and rp=0.329, p=0.041, respectively), whereas higher androstenedione levels corresponded with smaller tumors. Furthermore, BMI, androstenedione and DHEAS levels were correlated: an increase in DHEAS was associated with higher androstenedione serum concentrations (rp=0.603, p<0.001), but was also associated with a lower BMI (rp=−0.378, p<001). BMI and androstenedione serum concentrations were also associated (rp=0.242, p=0.009), thus closing a circle of mutual interactions. We conclude that, although breast cancer progression is characterized by autonomous growth that has become independent of growth regulatory mechanisms, tumor size at the time of detection is influenced by a complex system of counterregulatory feedback mechanisms that might represent the body's physiological attempt to control the size of a malignant tumor.