ABSTRACT

Background : As the most frequent malignancy among women all over the world, breast cancer accounts for 25% of all cancers and the leading cause of female cancer-related mortality. It is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among the Iraqi population, constituting about one-third of the registered female cancers and the leading cause of death from malignant neoplasm among women. Breast cancer women are also diagnosed with vitamin D3 deficiency, and low levels of serum vitamin D are reported to be associated with recurrence, invasiveness, and mortality. Moreover, women with higher levels of serum vitamin D3 are twice more likely to survive than those with low levels.

Aim: To evaluatie the association of vitamin D3 receptor with susceptibility to breast cancer in Iraqi women.

Method: This study was a retrospective-prospective study, carried out at Nanakali hematology/oncology hospital of Erbil on a sample of 74 cases who were randomly selected from among women who were diagnosed with breast cancer (stage II and stage III) from July to December 2016. The collected data were analyzed using Cho-square test and T-test through Graphpad Prism program version 6.

Results: Based on the results of the present study, 45% of patients were premenopausal, whose risk of ER+PR+ tumors was 20% lower. There were no significant differences between premenopausal, menopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer patients with different BMI groups regarding molecular subtypes. Moreover, there was a significant association between obesity and hormonal receptor subtype ER+/PR+.

Conclusion: Most of the Iraqi women with breast cancer are either obese or overweight at the time of diagnosis. There is a weak inverse association between vitamin D levels and breast cancer risk. Serum calcium and estrogen levels are positively associated with breast cancer risk.

Keywords:  Perimenopause, breast cancer, androgen receptor, vitamin D receptor, diagnosis