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Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and breast cancer: a review of the current evidence^1,2,3,4

¹ From the Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA

ABSTRACT

Incidences of breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome have increased over the past decades with the obesity epidemic, especially in industrialized countries. Insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and changes in the signaling of growth hormones and steroid hormones associated with diabetes may affect the risk of breast cancer. We reviewed epidemiologic studies of the association between type 2 diabetes and risk of breast cancer and the available evidence on the role of hormonal mediators of an association between diabetes and breast cancer. The combined evidence supports a modest association between type 2 diabetes and the risk of breast cancer, which appears to be more consistent among postmenopausal than among premenopausal women. Despite many proposed potential pathways, the mechanisms underlying an association between diabetes and breast cancer risk remain unclear, particularly because the 2 diseases share several risk factors, including obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, and possibly intake of saturated fat and refined carbohydrates, that may confound this association. Although the metabolic syndrome is closely related to diabetes and embraces additional components that might influence breast cancer risk, the role of the metabolic syndrome in breast carcinogenesis has not been studied and thus remains unknown.

Key Words: Breast cancer • type 2 diabetes • metabolic syndrome • insulin resistance • insulin-like growth factor-I • estrogen • meta-analysis

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