Reproductive factors and expression of stem cell markers in women with incident benign breast disease.

ABSTRACT: Reproductive factors are well-established risk factors for breast cancer. The prevailing hypothesis suggested that stem cell changes may be the key underlying mechanisms, but epidemiological evidence has been notably scarce. Herein we examined the relationship between reproductive risk factors and the expression of well-established stem cell markers CD44, CD24, and ALDH1A1 in benign breast biopsy non-cancerous samples. Our study included 735 participants from the Nurses' Health Study II who were diagnosed with biopsy-confirmed incident benign breast disease (BBD). Reproductive history and other BBD/breast cancer risk factors were measured from self-reported biennial questionnaires. Immunohistochemistry was performed on breast tissue microarrays from normal terminal ductal-lobular units (TD

SUBMITTER: Wang T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11626268 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature