Open AccessCirculating sphingomyelins on estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer-specific survival
Author(s) -
Charleen D. Adams
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
breast cancer management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1758-1931
pISSN - 1758-1923
DOI - 10.2217/bmt-2020-0002
Subject(s) - breast cancer , estrogen receptor , medicine , estrogen , sphingomyelin , cancer , oncology , mendelian randomization , endocrinology , lipoprotein , cholesterol , biology , biochemistry , genetic variants , genotype , gene
Aim: This study aims to determine whether a causal relationship exists between circulating sphingomyelins and breast cancer-specific survival, since, if one does, sphingomyelins could be studied as a therapeutic target in the management of breast cancer. Patients/materials & methods: Mendelian randomization is used here to investigate whether higher levels of circulating sphingomyelins impact breast cancer-specific survival for estrogen receptor-negative (ER–) and estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) patients. Results: The results suggest a null effect of sphingomyelins for ER– breast cancer-specific survival and a protective effect for ER+ breast cancer-specific survival. Sensitivity analyses implicate low-density lipoprotein cholesterol as a potential confounder. Conclusion: Future studies should replicate and triangulate the present findings with other methods and tease out the roles of sphingomyelins and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol on breast cancer-specific survival.