Inflammatory Cytokines Associated with Obesity, Type-2 Diabetes, and Hypertension Exacerbate Breast Cancer Risk in Underserved African American and Latin American Women

Background: Comorbid chronic diseases, such as obesity, Type-2 Diabetes (T2D), and hypertension (HTN), are major public health issues and highly prevalent among underserved African Americans (AA) and Latin Americans (LA). Elevated inflammatory cytokines are underlying processes in comorbidities (obesity, T2D, and HTN) that could contribute to tumorigenesis and adverse cancer outcomes. Methods: A panel of 19 cytokines was measured by Luminex assay from 570 AA and LA women's serum samples. The comorbidities and breast cancer information were extracted from our existing clinical database. Comorbidity-associated cytokines were identified by linear regression analysis, and the odds ratios of increasing cytokines for breast cancer were evaluated by Logistic regression. Results: Women with obesity, T2D, and HTN elevated specific groups of cytokines. EGF, MCP1, MDC, MIP-1b, and Groα were independent of T2D and HTN significantly associated with obesity. TGFβ1 and TGFβ2 were T2D-associated cytokines, and MIB-1b, TNFα, and VEGFα were HTN-associated cytokines. Among those comorbidity-associated cytokines, CXCL1, CCL4, CXCL10, TNFα, TGFβ1, and TGFβ2 were also significantly associated with breast cancer diagnosed at age < 50. Two or more comorbidities further increased the levels of Groα, MIP-1b, TNFα, and TGFβs. Conclusions: Comorbidity-associate cytokines could augment the risk of breast cancer for AA and LA women.