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Genetic influences on mammographic density in Korean twin and family: the Healthy Twin study

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Higher mammographic density is a strong risk factor for breast cancer. This study was conducted to determine the role of genetic factors on mammographic density measurements in Korean women. Study subjects were 730 women (122 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, 28 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, and 430 first degree relatives) from the Healthy Twin study. Mammographic density was measured using a computer-assisted method. Pairwise correlations of residual variance of each component of mammographic density were calculated within each pair of twins and family members. Quantitative genetic analysis was completed using SOLAR. Age and measured covariates accounted for 50% of the variation in dense area, 70% of non-dense area, and 67% of percent dense area. Fully adjusted heritability coefficients for dense area, non-dense area, and percent dense area were 0.76 (SE = 0.04), 0.69 (SE = 0.04) and 0.68 (SE = 0.04), respectively. Pairwise correlation coefficients of the adjusted residual variance of the mammographic density measures within MZ pairs and within DZ and sibling pairs combined were, respectively, 0.70 and 0.28 for dense area, 0.52 and 0.31 for non-dense area, and 0.58 and 0.24 for percent dense area. Covariance between dense and non-dense area had a significant genetic basis (correlation coefficient = −0.25, SE = 0.06). The same high heritability of mammographic density in Korean women as found in Western women supports a significant role of genetic determinants in breast cancer development. Genes that are responsible for familial correlation in mammographic density and have opposite effects on dense and non-dense mammographic areas need to be elucidated.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Genome Research Institute, Korea, National Institute of Health research contract (budgets 2005-347-2400-2440-215, 2006-347-2400-2440-215, 2007-347-2400-2440-215, 2008-E00255-00, and 2009-E00500-00), Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Grant Number M10305030005), and the Samsung Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI C-A9-218-1). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily any funding body.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    Joohon Sung

  2. Department of Family Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, and Center For Clinical Research, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwondong, Gangnamgu, Seoul, 135-710, Korea

    Yun-Mi Song

  3. Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Jennifer Stone

  4. Department of Family Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Pusan, Korea

    Kayoung Lee

  5. Center for Health Promotion, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

    Ji-in Jeong

  6. Department of Genome Epidemiology, Genome Research Center, National Institute of Health and Center for Disease Control, Seoul, Korea

    Sung-Soo Kim

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  1. Joohon Sung
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  2. Yun-Mi Song
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  3. Jennifer Stone
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  4. Kayoung Lee
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Correspondence to Yun-Mi Song.

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Sung, J., Song, YM., Stone, J. et al. Genetic influences on mammographic density in Korean twin and family: the Healthy Twin study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 124, 467–474 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-0852-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-0852-9

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