Elevated levels of maternal serum
alpha-fetoprotein (sAFP) during pregnancy have long been associated with a
reduced risk of breast cancer in women later in life. Since the decade of the
late 1990’s and early 2000’s, investigators have reported that elevated sAFP
levels during pregnancy were associated
with a future reduction in breast cancer risk in both pre-and
postmenopausal women.
An initial study by Richardson et al., using
stored frozen maternal serum samples, reported that a reduced risk of
postmenopausal breast cancer was associated with high third trimester sAFP
levels in women younger than 28 years at first pregnancy. Having been stored
for at least 20 years, Richardson re-assayed the frozen/thawed maternal sAFP
samples from women with presently confirmed breast cancer.
A subsequent report by Danish
investigators, using the country of Denmark’s national medical records as a
resource, confirmed and extended the earlier studies of Richardson to include
second trimester sAFP levels in premenopausal women up to age 38 years. A later
study by Vatten et al. further confirmed both earlier reports of sAFP and
future breast cancer risk and extended their finding to include cord serum AFP,
ethnicity, and pre-eclampsia.
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