NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with a N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) slow acetylator genotype have an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a report in the April 20th issue of the International Journal of Cancer.
NAT2 is involved in the metabolism of xenobiotics, such as aromatic and heterocyclic amines present in tobacco smoke and the diet, the authors explain. Previous studies investigating the link between NAT2 genotype and breast cancer yielded inconsistent results.
Dr. Ari Hirvonen from Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, and colleagues investigated the potential relationship between NAT2 acetylator status and breast cancer risk in 483 women with breast cancer and 482 healthy controls.
The NAT2 slow acetylator genotype was associated with a 2.6-fold increased risk of advanced breast cancer, the authors report, but NAT2 acetylator status was not associated with breast cancer histologic type.
The overall increased risk of breast cancer in association with NAT2 slow acetylator genotype was somewhat lower, the report indicates.
Smoking status significantly influenced the association between NAT2 acetylator status and breast cancer risk, the researchers note. Current smokers who were slow NAT2 acetylators had a 2.14-fold risk of breast cancer compared with rapid acetylators who currently smoked, but the relative risk was higher (2.55 fold) when comparing slow NAT2 acetylators and rapid NAT2 acetylators with less than 5 pack-years of smoking history.
“Our study suggests that inherited deficiency in NAT2-related metabolic capacity may be an important modifier of breast cancer risk in Finnish Caucasian women, especially if they are light smokers,” the authors conclude.
“Aside from the so-called high penetrance genes, like BRCA1 and BRCA2, the low penetrance genes could have an even more important role at the population level,” Dr. Hirvonen told Reuters Health. “This, however, remains to be confirmed in future studies.”
Source: Int J Cancer 2005;114:579-584. [ Google search on this article ]
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