Circulating 27-hydroxycholesterol and breast cancer tissue expression of CYP27A1, CYP7B1, LXR-β, and ERβ: results from the EPIC-Heidelberg cohort

BACKGROUND: Experimental and epidemiological studies demonstrate a role for 27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC) in breast cancer development, though results are conflicting. Cholesterol 27-hydroxylase (CYP27A1) and oxysterol 7-alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7B1) regulate 27HC concentrations, while differential expression of the liver X receptor (LXR) and estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) may impact the association between 27HC and breast cancer risk. METHODS: We evaluated correlates of tumor tissue expression of CYP27A1, CYP7B1, LXR-β, and ERβ and the association between circulating prediagnostic 27HC concentrations and breast cancer risk by marker expression in a nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Heidelberg cohort including 287 breast cancer cases with tumor tissue available. Tumor protein expression was evaluated using immunohistochemistry, and serum 27HC concentrations quantified using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: A higher proportion of CYP7B1-positive cases were progesterone receptor (PR)-positive, relative to CYP7B1-negative cases, whereas a higher proportion of ERβ-positive cases were Bcl-2 low, relative to ERβ-negative cases. No differences in tumor tissue marker positivity were observed by reproductive and lifestyle factors. We observed limited evidence of heterogeneity in associations between circulating 27HC and breast cancer risk by tumor tissue expression of CYP27A1, CYP7B1, LXR-β, and ERβ, with the exception of statistically significant heterogeneity by LXR-β status in the subgroup of women perimenopausal at blood collection (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: This exploratory study suggests limited associations between tumor marker status and epidemiologic or breast cancer characteristics. Furthermore, the association between circulating 27HC and breast cancer risk may not vary by tumor expression of CYP27A1, CYP7B1, LXR-β, or ERβ. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13058-020-1253-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.