TY - JOUR T1 - Associations Between Polymorphisms in the Vitamin D Receptor and Breast Cancer Risk JF - Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers &amp; Prevention JO - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev SP - 2335 LP - 2339 DO - 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-05-0283 VL - 14 IS - 10 AU - Chen, Wendy Y. AU - Bertone-Johnson, Elizabeth R. AU - Hunter, David J. AU - Willett, Walter C. AU - Hankinson, Susan E. Y1 - 2005/10/01 UR - http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/14/10/2335.abstract N2 - Biological and epidemiologic data suggest that vitamin D levels may influence breast cancer development. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a crucial mediator for the cellular effects of vitamin D and additionally interacts with other cell-signaling pathways that influence cancer development. Because functional data exist on FOK1 and previous studies have suggested a relation between BSM1 and breast cancer risk, we evaluated the associations of the FOK1 and BSM1 VDR polymorphisms and breast cancer risk. In a case-control study nested within the Nurses' Health Study, we genotyped 1,234 incident cases (diagnosed between return of a blood sample in 1989-1990 and June 1, 2000) and 1,676 controls for FOK1, and 1,180 cases and 1,547 controls for BSM1. We observed a significantly increased risk of breast cancer among carriers of the ff genotype of FOK1 (multivariate odds ratio, 1.34; 95% confidence intervals, 1.06-1.69) compared with those with FF. We did not observe an association between polymorphisms in BSM1 and breast cancer risk (multivariate odds ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence intervals, 0.72-1.20) for BB versus bb). The FOK1 association did not vary significantly by menopausal status, estrogen, and progesterone receptor status of the tumors, or plasma levels of 25 hydroxyvitamin D or 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D. Our results suggest that the VDR may be a mediator of breast cancer risk and could represent a target for cancer prevention efforts. ER -