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Abstract 3017: Breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by tumor immune profiles

Publication ,  Conference
Mongiovi, J; Townsend, M; Vitonis, A; Babic, A; Hecht, J; Conejo-Garcia, J; Fridley, B; Tworoger, S; Terry, K; Sasamoto, N
Published in: Cancer Research
April 4, 2023

Introduction: Breastfeeding is associated with decreased ovarian cancer risk, yet the biological mechanisms are not fully understood. We conducted an agnostic investigation of tumor immune profiles to better understand the role of the tumor microenvironment in the protective association between breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk.Methods: Multiplex immunofluorescence was used to measure the abundance of T cells and B cells in ovarian tumor samples on tissue microarrays from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS; n=337), NHSII (n=127), and New England Case Control Study (NECC; n=214). We averaged the percent of cells within the tumor epithelium that were positive for the immune cell of interest across 3 cores per tumor and categorized tumors as having high or low immune cell abundance based on the median value across all tumors. Controls were non-cases and did not provide tissue samples (n=2,045). Self-reported history of breastfeeding was used to define ever/never and total duration of breastfeeding. Polytomous logistic regression models adjusted for age, birth cohort, race, parity, oral contraception use, and study, was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by immune cell level.Results: Overall, breastfeeding was associated with a reduced risk of tumors with low, but not high, subtypes of T cell abundance. Among parous women, history of ever breastfeeding decreased the risk of tumors with low helper T cells (CD3+CD4+; ORlow: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.41-0.77), but not high helper T cells (ORhigh: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.63-1.35; p-het=0.06). For total B cells (CD19+), having ever breastfed was associated with decreased risk of both low (ORlow: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.47-0.87) and high abundance in the tumor (ORhigh: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.62-0.96, p-het=0.67) among parous women. Similar results were observed for CD138+ plasma cells (ORlow:0.76, 95% CI: 0.56-0.99; ORhigh: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.37-0.94; p-het=0.34). Longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with decreased risk of developing tumors with low abundance of total B cells (CD19+, p-trend=0.02) and regulatory B cells (CD19+TNFR2+, p-trend=0.05), but not high abundance of CD19+ or CD19+TNFR2+ (p-het=0.01 and 0.03, respectively).Conclusion: These results indicate that among parous women breastfeeding is associated with reduced risk of ovarian tumors with low infiltration of helper T cells while no heterogeneity was observed for risk by total B cells or plasma cells. Longer breastfeeding duration was associated with reduced risk of tumors low in regulatory B cells (CD19+TNFR+) with a dose-dependent response. Together, these results suggest breastfeeding may play a role in the activation of the tumor immune response. Further efforts are ongoing to disentangle the relationships between breastfeeding and parity with the tumor immune microenvironment.Citation Format: Jennifer Mongiovi, Mary Townsend, Allison Vitonis, Ana Babic, Jonathan Hecht, Jose Conejo-Garcia, Brooke Fridley, Shelley Tworoger, Kathryn Terry, Naoko Sasamoto. Breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by tumor immune profiles [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3017.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Cancer Research

DOI

EISSN

1538-7445

Publication Date

April 4, 2023

Volume

83

Issue

7_Supplement

Start / End Page

3017 / 3017

Publisher

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Related Subject Headings

  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • 3211 Oncology and carcinogenesis
  • 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis
 

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Mongiovi, J., Townsend, M., Vitonis, A., Babic, A., Hecht, J., Conejo-Garcia, J., … Sasamoto, N. (2023). Abstract 3017: Breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by tumor immune profiles. In Cancer Research (Vol. 83, pp. 3017–3017). American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.am2023-3017
Mongiovi, Jennifer, Mary Townsend, Allison Vitonis, Ana Babic, Jonathan Hecht, Jose Conejo-Garcia, Brooke Fridley, Shelley Tworoger, Kathryn Terry, and Naoko Sasamoto. “Abstract 3017: Breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by tumor immune profiles.” In Cancer Research, 83:3017–3017. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), 2023. https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.am2023-3017.
Mongiovi J, Townsend M, Vitonis A, Babic A, Hecht J, Conejo-Garcia J, et al. Abstract 3017: Breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by tumor immune profiles. In: Cancer Research. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); 2023. p. 3017–3017.
Mongiovi, Jennifer, et al. “Abstract 3017: Breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by tumor immune profiles.” Cancer Research, vol. 83, no. 7_Supplement, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), 2023, pp. 3017–3017. Crossref, doi:10.1158/1538-7445.am2023-3017.
Mongiovi J, Townsend M, Vitonis A, Babic A, Hecht J, Conejo-Garcia J, Fridley B, Tworoger S, Terry K, Sasamoto N. Abstract 3017: Breastfeeding and ovarian cancer risk by tumor immune profiles. Cancer Research. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); 2023. p. 3017–3017.

Published In

Cancer Research

DOI

EISSN

1538-7445

Publication Date

April 4, 2023

Volume

83

Issue

7_Supplement

Start / End Page

3017 / 3017

Publisher

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Related Subject Headings

  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • 3211 Oncology and carcinogenesis
  • 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis