Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue
Background: Biologic pathways underlying the association between outdoor air pollution and breast cancer risk are poorly understood. Breast tissue composition may reflect cumulative exposure to breast cancer risk factors and has been associated with breast cancer risk among patients with benign brea...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Environment International |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202300257X |
| _version_ | 1797812128218873856 |
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| author | Jennifer L. Ish Mustapha Abubakar Shaoqi Fan Rena R. Jones Nicole M. Niehoff Jill E. Henry Gretchen L. Gierach Alexandra J. White |
| author_facet | Jennifer L. Ish Mustapha Abubakar Shaoqi Fan Rena R. Jones Nicole M. Niehoff Jill E. Henry Gretchen L. Gierach Alexandra J. White |
| author_sort | Jennifer L. Ish |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Biologic pathways underlying the association between outdoor air pollution and breast cancer risk are poorly understood. Breast tissue composition may reflect cumulative exposure to breast cancer risk factors and has been associated with breast cancer risk among patients with benign breast disease. Herein, we evaluated whether fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was associated with the histologic composition of normal breast tissue. Methods: Machine-learning algorithms were applied to digitized hematoxylin and eosin-stained biopsies of normal breast tissue to quantify the epithelium, stroma, adipose and total tissue area from 3,977 individuals aged 18–75 years from a primarily Midwestern United States population who donated breast tissue samples to the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank (2009–2019). Annual levels of PM2.5 were assigned to each woman’s residential address based on year of tissue donation. We applied predictive k-means to assign participants to clusters with similar PM2.5 chemical composition and used linear regression to examine the cross-sectional associations between a 5-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 and square root-transformed proportions of epithelium, stroma, adipose, and epithelium-to-stroma proportion [ESP], overall and by PM2.5 cluster. Results: Higher residential PM2.5 was associated with lower proportion of breast stromal tissue [β = -0.93, 95% confidence interval: (-1.52, −0.33)], but was not related to the proportion of epithelium [β = -0.11 (-0.34, 0.11)]. Although PM2.5 was not associated with ESP overall [β = 0.24 (-0.16, 0.64)], the association significantly differed by PM2.5 chemical composition (p-interaction = 0.04), with a positive association evident only among an urban, Midwestern cluster with higher concentrations of nitrate (NO3–) and ammonium (NH4+) [β = 0.49 (0.03, 0.95)]. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent with a possible role of PM2.5 in breast cancer etiology and suggest that changes in breast tissue composition may be a potential pathway by which outdoor air pollution impacts breast cancer risk. This study further underscores the importance of considering heterogeneity in PM2.5 composition and its impact on breast carcinogenesis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:33:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c8a702dc46de48b3ba0052e59cd82f16 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0160-4120 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:33:37Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environment International |
| spelling | doaj.art-c8a702dc46de48b3ba0052e59cd82f162023-06-04T04:23:07ZengElsevierEnvironment International0160-41202023-06-01176107984Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissueJennifer L. Ish0Mustapha Abubakar1Shaoqi Fan2Rena R. Jones3Nicole M. Niehoff4Jill E. Henry5Gretchen L. Gierach6Alexandra J. White7Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USAOccupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USAOccupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USAOccupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USAEpidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USABiospecimen Collection and Banking Core, Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, USAOccupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USAEpidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA; Corresponding author at: 111 TW Alexander Dr A323, Durham NC 27709, USA.Background: Biologic pathways underlying the association between outdoor air pollution and breast cancer risk are poorly understood. Breast tissue composition may reflect cumulative exposure to breast cancer risk factors and has been associated with breast cancer risk among patients with benign breast disease. Herein, we evaluated whether fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was associated with the histologic composition of normal breast tissue. Methods: Machine-learning algorithms were applied to digitized hematoxylin and eosin-stained biopsies of normal breast tissue to quantify the epithelium, stroma, adipose and total tissue area from 3,977 individuals aged 18–75 years from a primarily Midwestern United States population who donated breast tissue samples to the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank (2009–2019). Annual levels of PM2.5 were assigned to each woman’s residential address based on year of tissue donation. We applied predictive k-means to assign participants to clusters with similar PM2.5 chemical composition and used linear regression to examine the cross-sectional associations between a 5-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 and square root-transformed proportions of epithelium, stroma, adipose, and epithelium-to-stroma proportion [ESP], overall and by PM2.5 cluster. Results: Higher residential PM2.5 was associated with lower proportion of breast stromal tissue [β = -0.93, 95% confidence interval: (-1.52, −0.33)], but was not related to the proportion of epithelium [β = -0.11 (-0.34, 0.11)]. Although PM2.5 was not associated with ESP overall [β = 0.24 (-0.16, 0.64)], the association significantly differed by PM2.5 chemical composition (p-interaction = 0.04), with a positive association evident only among an urban, Midwestern cluster with higher concentrations of nitrate (NO3–) and ammonium (NH4+) [β = 0.49 (0.03, 0.95)]. Conclusions: Our findings are consistent with a possible role of PM2.5 in breast cancer etiology and suggest that changes in breast tissue composition may be a potential pathway by which outdoor air pollution impacts breast cancer risk. This study further underscores the importance of considering heterogeneity in PM2.5 composition and its impact on breast carcinogenesis.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202300257XAir pollutionParticulate matterBreast cancerK-means clustering |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer L. Ish Mustapha Abubakar Shaoqi Fan Rena R. Jones Nicole M. Niehoff Jill E. Henry Gretchen L. Gierach Alexandra J. White Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue Environment International Air pollution Particulate matter Breast cancer K-means clustering |
| title | Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue |
| title_full | Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue |
| title_fullStr | Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue |
| title_full_unstemmed | Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue |
| title_short | Outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue |
| title_sort | outdoor air pollution and histologic composition of normal breast tissue |
| topic | Air pollution Particulate matter Breast cancer K-means clustering |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202300257X |
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