Purpose

Physical health-related quality of life scores have been, inconsistently, associated with breast cancer prognosis. This analysis examined whether change in physical health scores were related to outcomes in women with a history of breast cancer.

Methods

2343 breast cancer survivors in a randomized diet trial provided self-reported assessment of physical health-related quality of life at baseline and year 1. Based on change in physical health score, participants were grouped into subpopulations of decreased physical health, no/minimal changes, and increased physical health. Cox regression analysis assessed whether change in physical health (from baseline to year 1) predicted disease-free and overall survival; hazard ratio (HR) was the measure of association.

Results

There were 294 additional breast cancer events and 162 deaths among women followed for 7.3 years. Improvements in physical health were associated with younger age, lower BMI, being employed, not receiving tamoxifen, lower physical activity, and lower baseline physical and mental health. There was no association of change in physical health with additional breast cancer events or mortality among women diagnosed ≤ 2 years before study enrollment. However, among women who entered the study >2 years post diagnosis, the HR for increased compared to decreased physical health was 0.38 (95% CI, 0.16 to 0.85) for all-cause mortality.

Conclusions

These results appear to support testing an intervention to improve physical health in breast cancer patients among patients after the acute stage of treatment.

We explored whether breast cancer outcomes are associated with endoxifen and other metabolites of tamoxifen, and to examine potential correlates of endoxifen concentrations including CYP2D6 metabolizer phenotype and body mass index (BMI). Tamoxifen, endoxifen, 4-hydroxytamoxifen and N-desmethyltamoxifen concentrations were measured from 1370 estrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients participating in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study, and tested for associations with breast cancer outcomes. Breast cancer outcomes were not associated with tamoxifen, 4-hydroxytamoxifen or N-desmethyltamoxifen concentrations. For endoxifen, a threshold was identified suggesting that women in the upper four quintiles of endoxifen had a 26% lower recurrence rate than women in the bottom quintile. (HR=0.74; 95% CI, [0.55, 1.00]). Predictors of membership in this higher risk bottom quintile were poor/intermediate metabolizer genotype, higher BMI, and low tamoxifen concentrations. This study suggests a minimal threshold at which endoxifen is effective against breast cancer recurrence, which 80% of tamoxifen-takers achieve.

The utilization of archived, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor samples for massive parallel sequencing has been challenging due to DNA damage and contamination with normal stroma. Here, we perform whole genome sequencing of DNA isolated from two triple-negative breast cancer tumors archived for >11 years as 5 µm FFPE sections and matched germline DNA. The tumor samples show differing amounts of FFPE damaged DNA sequencing reads revealed as relatively high alignment mismatch rates enriched for C·G > T·A substitutions compared to germline samples. This increase in mismatch rate is observable with as few as one million reads, allowing for an upfront evaluation of the sample integrity before whole genome sequencing. By applying innovative quality filters incorporating global nucleotide mismatch rates and local mismatch rates, we present a method to identify high-confidence somatic mutations even in the presence of FFPE induced DNA damage. This results in a breast cancer mutational profile consistent with previous studies and revealing potentially important functional mutations. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of performing genome-wide deep sequencing analysis of FFPE archived tumors of limited sample size such as residual cancer after treatment or metastatic biopsies.

Background

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has been hypothesized to predict time to additional breast cancer events and all-cause mortality in breast cancer survivors.

Methods

Women with early stage breast cancer (n=2967) completed the SF-36 (mental and physical health-related quality of life) and standardized psychosocial questionnaires to assess social support, optimism, hostility, and depression prior to randomization into a dietary trial. Cox regression was performed to assess whether these measures of quality of life and psychosocial functioning predicted time to additional breast cancer events and all-cause mortality; hazard ratios were the measure of association.

Results

There were 492 additional breast cancer events and 301 deaths occurred over a median 7.3 years (range: 0.01–10.8 years) of follow-up. In multivariate models, poorer physical health was associated with both decreased time to additional breast cancer events and all-cause mortality (p trend=0.005 and 0.004, respectively), while greater hostility predicted additional breast cancer events only (p trend=0.03). None of the other psycho-social variables predicted either outcome. The hazard ratios comparing persons with poor (bottom two quintiles) to better (top three quintiles) physical health were 1.42 (95% CI: 1.16, 1.75) for decreased time to additional breast cancer events and 1.37 (95% CI: 1.08, 1.74) for all-cause mortality. Potentially modifiable factors associated with poor physical health included higher BMI, lower physical activity, lower alcohol consumption, and more insomnia (p<0.05 for all).

Conclusion

Interventions to improve physical health should be tested as a means to increase time to additional breast cancer events and mortality among breast cancer survivors.

Abstract

Background

Few studies have examined proxy decision-making regarding end-of-life treatment decisions. Proxy accuracy is defined as whether proxy treatment choices are consistent with the expressed wishes of their index elder. The purpose of this study was to examine proxy accuracy in relation to two family factors that may influence proxy accuracy: perceived family conflict and type of elder-proxy relationship.

Methods

Telephone interviews with 202 community-dwelling elders and their proxy decision makers were conducted including the Life-Support Preferences Questionnaire (LSPQ), and a measure of family conflict, and sociodemographic characteristics, including type of relationship.

Results

Elder-proxy accuracy was associated with the type of elder-proxy relationship. Adult children demonstrated the lowest elder-proxy accuracy and spousal proxies the highest elder-proxy accuracy. Elder-proxy accuracy was associated with family conflict. Proxies reporting higher family conflict had lower elder-proxy accuracy. No interaction between family conflict and relationship type was revealed.

Conclusions

Spousal proxies were more accurate in their substituted judgment than adult children, and proxies who perceive higher degree of family conflict tended to be less accurate than those with lower family conflict. Health care providers should be aware of these family factors when discussing advance care planning.

Purpose

Self-reported diabetes has been associated with poor breast cancer outcomes. Research is needed to investigate the relationship between biologically determined glycemic control and breast cancer prognosis.

Methods

Archived baseline blood samples from the Women's Healthy Eating and Living Study were used to measure hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) among 3,003 survivors of early-stage breast cancer (age of diagnosis, 28 to 70 years) observed for a median of 7.3 years for additional breast cancer events and 10.3 years for all-cause mortality. HbA1C levels provide an accurate, precise measure of chronic glycemic levels. Cox regression analysis was performed to assess whether baseline HbA1C levels predicted disease-free and overall survival.

Results

Only 5.8% of women had chronic hyperglycemia (defined as HbA1C levels ≥ 6.5%). Those with HbA1C ≥ 6.5% were older and more likely to be less educated, have nonwhite ethnicity, be obese, and have more advanced breast cancer at diagnosis. HbA1C was significantly associated with overall survival (Ptrend < .001). After adjusting for confounders, risk of all-cause mortality was twice as high in women with HbA1C ≥ 7.0% compared with women with HbA1C less than 6.5% (hazard ratio [HR], 2.35; 95% CI, 1.56 to 3.54). For disease-free survival, there was a nonsignificant 30% increase in risk for HbA1C levels ≥ 7.0% (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.78 to 2.02). During study follow-up, previously diagnosed rather than undiagnosed diabetes seemed to account for the increased risk.

Conclusion

Chronic hyperglycemia is statistically significantly associated with reduced overall survival in survivors of early-stage breast cancer. Further study of diabetes and its relationship to breast cancer outcomes is warranted.

Introduction

This analysis was conducted to determine whether comorbid medical conditions predict additional breast cancer events and all-cause mortality in women with a history of early stage breast cancer.

Methods

Women (n=2542) participating in a randomized diet trial completed a selfadministered questionnaire regarding whether they were currently being treated for a wide variety of diseases (cardiovascular, diabetes, gallbladder, gastrointestinal, arthritis, and osteoporosis) and conditions (high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol level). Height and weight were measured at baseline. Participants were followed for a median of 7.3 years (range 0.8 to 15.0). Cox regression analysis was performed to assess whether comorbidities predicted disease-free and overall survival; hazard ratio (HR) was the measure of association.

Results

Overall, there were 406 additional breast cancer events and 242 deaths. Participants with diabetes had over 2-fold the risk of additional breast cancer events (HR 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.4) and mortality (HR 2.5, 95% CI: 1.4, 4.4). The presence of multiple comorbidities did not statistically significantly predict additional breast cancer events. However, compared to no comorbidities, participants with 3 or more comorbidities had a HR of 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.3 for mortality.

Conclusion

Type 2 diabetes was associated with poor breast cancer prognosis. Given that 85 percent of deaths were caused by breast cancer, these findings suggest that multiple comorbidities may reduce the likelihood of surviving additional breast cancer events.

Introduction

The safety of pregnancy after breast cancer is an important issue for many younger breast cancer survivors and their health care providers. Current research does not indicate that pregnancy negatively affects survival, but the “healthy mother bias,” suggesting that survivors who go on to become pregnant are a self-selected healthier group based on their prognosis, has led to cautious interpretation of these findings. No studies have systematically evaluated the potential for this bias.

Methods

This nested case-control study includes 81 younger participants from the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study (WHEL) (N=3088). Our sample includes 27 cases who had children after breast cancer and 54 controls, matched on age and stage at diagnosis. We used hierarchical linear modeling to accommodate longitudinal data with individuals nested within matched sets (cases and controls). The primary aim was to evaluate the association between summary scores of health and childbearing after breast cancer. Covariates were added for adjustment and to improve model precision.

Results

Controlling for other variables in the model, physical health scores were not different between cases and controls (B=0.14, p=0.96). Mental health scores were marginally higher among cases (B=6.40, p=0.08), as compared to controls, a difference considered clinically significant.

Conclusion

This preliminary study did not find evidence of a healthy mother bias based on physical health. However, mental health was 6 points higher (p=0.08) among those who had children, indicating that the role of mental health needs evaluation in future research. Larger studies are needed to verify these findings.

BACKGROUND

Older women with breast cancer are underrepresented in clinical trials, and data on the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy in such patients are scant. We tested for the noninferiority of capecitabine as compared with standard chemotherapy in women with breast cancer who were 65 years of age or older.

METHODS

We randomly assigned patients with stage I, II, IIIA, or IIIB breast cancer to standard chemotherapy (either cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil or cyclophosphamide plus doxorubicin) or capecitabine. Endocrine therapy was recommended after chemotherapy in patients with hormone-receptor–positive tumors. A Bayesian statistical design was used with a range in sample size from 600 to 1800 patients. The primary end point was relapse-free survival.

RESULTS

When the 600th patient was enrolled, the probability that, with longer follow-up, capecitabine therapy was highly likely to be inferior to standard chemotherapy met a prescribed level, and enrollment was discontinued. After an additional year of follow-up, the hazard ratio for disease recurrence or death in the capecitabine group was 2.09 (95% confidence interval, 1.38 to 3.17; P<0.001). Patients who were randomly assigned to capecitabine were twice as likely to have a relapse and almost twice as likely to die as patients who were randomly assigned to standard chemotherapy (P = 0.02). At 3 years, the rate of relapse-free survival was 68% in the capecitabine group versus 85% in the standard-chemotherapy group, and the overall survival rate was 86% versus 91%. Two patients in the capecitabine group died of treatment-related complications; as compared with patients receiving capecitabine, twice as many patients receiving standard chemotherapy had moderate-to-severe toxic effects (64% vs. 33%).

CONCLUSIONS

Standard adjuvant chemotherapy is superior to capecitabine in patients with early-stage breast cancer who are 65 years of age or older. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00024102.)

Purpose

Estimates of insomnia in breast cancer patients are high, with reports of poor sleep lasting years after completion of cancer treatment. This randomized controlled crossover pilot study looked at the effects of individual cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (IND-CBT-I) on sleep in breast cancer survivors.

Patients and methods

Twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (six weekly IND-CBT-I sessions followed by six weeks of follow up) or a delayed treatment control group (no treatment for six weeks followed by six weekly IND-CBT-I sessions). Of these, 14 participants completed the pilot study (six in the treatment group and eight in the delayed treatment control group).

Results

Self-rated insomnia was significantly improved in the treatment group compared to the waiting period in the delayed treatment control group. The pooled pre–post-IND-CBT-I analyses revealed improvements in self-rated insomnia, sleep quality, and objective measures of sleep.

Conclusions

These preliminary results suggest that IND-CBT-I is appropriate for improving sleep in breast cancer survivors. Individual therapy in a clinic or private practice may be a more practical option for this population as it is more easily accessed and readily available in an outpatient setting.

Early detection and effective treatments have dramatically improved breast cancer survivorship, yet the risk of relapse persists even 15 years after the initial diagnosis. It is important to identify prognostic factors for late breast cancer events. The authors investigated time-varying effects of tumor characteristics on breast-cancer-free survival using data on 3,088 breast cancer survivors from 4 US states who participated in a randomized dietary intervention trial in 1995–2006, with maximum follow-up through 15 years (median, 9 years). A piecewise constant penalized spline approach incorporating time-varying coefficients was adopted, allowing for deviations from the proportional hazards assumption. This method is more flexible than standard approaches, provides direct estimates of hazard ratios across time intervals, and is computationally tractable. Having a stage II or III tumor was associated with a 3-fold higher hazard of breast cancer than having a stage I tumor during the first 2.5 years after diagnosis; this hazard ratio decreased to 2.1 after 7.7 years, but higher tumor stage remained a significant risk factor. Similar diminishing effects were found for poorly differentiated tumors. Interestingly, having a positive estrogen receptor status was protective up to 4 years after diagnosis but detrimental after 7.7 years (hazard ratio = 1.5). These results emphasize the importance of careful statistical modeling allowing for possibly time-dependent effects in long-term survivorship studies.

Objective

The concept of symptom clusters is relatively new in cancer patients' symptom management. This study, which spanned four cycles of chemotherapy, combined three commonly seen pre-treatment symptoms in cancer patients (i.e., sleep disturbances, fatigue and depression) into one symptom cluster, to explore the associations between pre-treatment cluster categories and longitudinal profiles of these same symptoms during chemotherapy.

Methods

This was a prospective study. Seventy-six women with newly diagnosed stage I–III breast cancer, scheduled to receive at least four cycles of adjuvant or neoadjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy participated. Data were collected at seven time points before and during treatment. Sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Fatigue was measured with the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form (MFSI-SF). Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D). Patients were divided into three groups based on the number of symptoms they experienced before the start of chemotherapy (i.e., no symptoms, 1–2 symptoms or all three symptoms) and a symptom cluster index (SCI) was computed.

Results

All women reported worse sleep, more fatigue and more depressive symptoms during treatment compared to baseline (all p's <0.01); however, those women with a higher symptom cluster index (i.e., more symptoms pre-treatment) continued to experience worse symptoms during treatment compared to those who began with fewer symptoms (all p's <0.01).

Conclusions

A higher clinically relevant-based pre-treatment symptom cluster was associated with more sleep disturbances, greater fatigue and more depressive symptoms during chemotherapy. Specific interventions for these pre-treatment symptoms may improve the frequency and severity of these same symptoms during chemotherapy, when they are most severe and most disruptive to quality of life.

Purpose

To determine whether a low-fat diet high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber differentially affects prognosis in breast cancer survivors with hot flashes (HF) or without HF after treatment.

Patients and Methods

A secondary analysis was conducted on 2,967 breast cancer survivors, age 18 to 70 years, who were randomly assigned between 1995 and 2000 in a multicenter, controlled trial of a dietary intervention to prevent additional breast cancer events and observed through June 1, 2006. We compared the dietary intervention group with a group who received five-a-day dietary guidelines.

Results

Independent of HF status, a substantial between-group difference among those who did and did not receive dietary guidelines was achieved and maintained at 4 years in intake of vegetable/fruit servings per day (54% higher; 10 v 6.5 servings/d, respectively), fiber (31% higher; 25.5 v 19.4 g/d, respectively), and percent energy from fat (14% lower; 26.9% v 31.3%, respectively). Adjusting for tumor characteristics and antiestrogen treatment, HF-negative women assigned to the intervention had 31% fewer events than HF-negative women assigned to the comparison group (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.93; P = .02). The intervention did not affect prognosis in the women with baseline HFs. Furthermore, compared with HF-negative women assigned to the comparison group, HF-positive women had significantly fewer events in both the intervention (HR = 0.77; 95% CI, 0.59 to 1.00; P = .05) and comparison groups (HR = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.85; P = .002).

Conclusion

A diet with higher vegetable, fruit, and fiber and lower fat intakes than the five-a-day diet may reduce risk of additional events in HF-negative breast cancer survivors. This suggestive finding needs confirmation in a trial in which it is the primary hypothesis.

Summary

To date, there are no studies in the literature addressing whether or not microscopic genital injuries change over time or change in appearance during the 72 hours time period following intercourse. In this study, women (n=35) had two evidentiary type pelvic examinations to document injuries after consensual intercourse. At Time 1 (within 48 hours of consensual intercourse) a: larger total surface area of injury (p =.02); larger surface area of injury to the posterior fourchette (p =.02); larger surface area of abrasions (p =.04); and larger surface area of redness (p =.04) were found compared to Time 2 (24 hours after Time 1). Since this research is exploratory, larger studies are needed to explore the differences in genital injuries based on the time of examination and in women after non-consensual intercourse.

We utilized data from the comparison group of the Women's Healthy Eating and Living randomized trial to investigate an “a priori” hypothesis suggested by CYP2D6 studies that hot flashes may be an independent predictor of tamoxifen efficacy. A total of 1551 women with early stage breast cancer were enrolled and randomized to the comparison group of the WHEL multi-institutional trial between 1995 and 2000. Their primary breast cancer diagnoses were between 1991 and 2000. At study entry, 864 (56%) of these women were taking tamoxifen, and hot flashes were reported by 674 (78%). After 7.3 years of follow-up, 127 of those who took tamoxifen at baseline had a confirmed breast cancer recurrence. Women who reported hot flashes at baseline were less likely to develop recurrent breast cancer than those who did not report hot flashes (12.9% vs 21%, P = 0.01). Hot flashes were a stronger predictor of breast cancer specific outcome than age, hormone receptor status, or even the difference in the stage of the cancer at diagnosis (Stage I versus Stage II). These findings suggest an association between side effects, efficacy, and tamoxifen metabolism. The strength of this finding suggests that further study of the relationship between hot flashes and breast cancer progression is warranted. Additional work is warranted to clarify the mechanism of hot flashes in this setting.

Although chemotherapy for breast cancer can increase inflammation, few studies have examined predictors of this phenomenon. This study examined potential contributions of demographics, disease characteristics, and treatment regimens to markers of inflammation in response to chemotherapy for breast cancer. Thirty-five women with stage I - III-A breast cancer (mean age 50 years) were studied prior to cycle 1 and prior to cycle 4 of anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Circulating levels of inflammatory markers with high relevance to breast cancer were examined, including C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1-RA), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), Interleukin- (IL-6), soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin), and von Willebrand factor (vWf). Chemotherapy was associated with elevations in VEGF (p≤0.01), sICAM-1 (p≤0.01), sP-selectin (p≤0.02) and vWf (p≤0.05). Multiple regression analysis controlling for age and body mass index (BMI) showed that higher post-chemotherapy levels of inflammation were consistently related to higher pre-chemotherapy levels of inflammation (p’s ≤0.05) as well as to certain disease characteristics. Post-chemotherapy IL-6 levels were higher in patients who had larger tumors (p≤0.05) while post-chemotherapy VEGF levels were higher in patients who had smaller tumors (p≤0.05). Post-chemotherapy sP-selectin levels were highest in women who had received epirubicin, cytoxan, 5fluorouracil chemotherapy (p≤0.01). These findings indicate that chemotherapy treatment can be associated with elevations in certain markers of inflammation, particularly markers of endothelial and platelet activation. Inflammation in response to chemotherapy is most significantly related to inflammation that existed prior to chemotherapy but also potentially to treatment regimen and to certain disease characteristics.

Achieving long-term adherence to a dietary pattern is a challenge in many studies investigating the relationship between diet and disease. The Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study was a multi-institutional randomized trial in 3088 women at risk for breast cancer recurrence. At baseline, the average participant followed a healthy dietary pattern of 7 vegetable and fruit servings, 21 g/d of fiber, and 28.7% energy from fat, although fat intake increased over the enrollment period. Using primarily telephone counseling, the intervention group was encouraged to substantially increase intakes of vegetables, fruits, and fiber while decreasing fat intake. Sets of 24-h dietary recalls were completed on 90% of eligible participants at 1 y and 86% at 4 y. Using a conservative imputation analysis, at 1 y, the intervention group consumed 38% more vegetable servings (100% when including juice) than the comparison group, 20% more fruit, 38% more fiber, 50% more legumes, and 30% more whole grain foods, with a 20% lower intake of energy from fat. At 4 y, the between-group differences were 65% for vegetables (including juice), 25% fruit, 30% fiber, 40% legumes, 30% whole grain foods, and 13% lower intake of energy from fat. The intervention effect on fat intake was similar for early vs. late enrollees. Plasma carotenoid concentrations on a random 28% sample validated self-reported vegetable and fruit intake, with a between-group difference of 66% at 1 y and over 40% at 4 y. This large change will allow testing of hypotheses on the role of dietary change in preventing additional breast cancer events.

Purpose

Single-variable analyses have associated physical activity, diet, and obesity with survival after breast cancer. This report investigates interactions among these variables.

Patients and Methods

A prospective study was performed of 1,490 women diagnosed and treated for early-stage breast cancer between 1991 and 2000. Enrollment was an average of 2 years postdiagnosis. Only seven women were lost to follow-up through December 2005.

Results

In univariate analysis, reduced mortality was weakly associated with higher vegetable-fruit consumption, increased physical activity, and a body mass index that was neither low weight nor obese. In a multivariate Cox model, only the combination of consuming five or more daily servings of vegetables-fruits, and accumulating 540+ metabolic equivalent tasks-min/wk (equivalent to walking 30 minutes 6 d/wk), was associated with a significant survival advantage (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.98). The approximate 50% reduction in risk associated with these healthy lifestyle behaviors was observed in both obese and nonobese women, although fewer obese women were physically active with a healthy dietary pattern (16% v 30%). Among those who adhered to this healthy lifestyle, there was no apparent effect of obesity on survival. The effect was stronger in women who had hormone receptor–positive cancers.

Conclusion

A minority of breast cancer survivors follow a healthy lifestyle that includes both recommended intakes of vegetables-fruits and moderate levels of physical activity. The strong protective effect observed suggests a need for additional investigation of the effect of the combined influence of diet and physical activity on breast cancer survival.

Goals

Previous investigations have shown that women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer experience both disturbed sleep and fatigue. However, most of the previous research examined women either during or after chemotherapy. This study examined sleep, fatigue, and circadian rhythms in women with breast cancer before the start of chemotherapy.

Patients and methods

Eighty five women with Stages I–IIIA breast cancer who were scheduled to begin adjuvant or neo-adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy participated. Each had sleep/wake activity recorded with actigraphy for 72 consecutive hours and filled out questionnaires on sleep, fatigue, depression, and functional outcome.

Main results

On average, the women slept for about 6 h a night and napped for over an hour during the day. Sleep was reported to be disturbed and fatigue levels were high. Circadian rhythms were robust, but women who were more phase-delayed reported more daily dysfunction (p<0.01).

Conclusions

The data from the current study suggest that the women with breast cancer likely experience both disturbed sleep and fatigue before the beginning of chemotherapy. Although their circadian rhythms are robust, breast cancer patients with more delayed rhythms experience more daily dysfunction secondary to fatigue. These data suggest that strategies to improve disturbed sleep and to phase-advance circadian rhythms prior to initiation of chemotherapy may be beneficial in improving daily function in breast cancer patients.

Background

Fatigue is one of the most common and distressing complaints among cancer patients, not only during radiation and chemotherapy, but also for months to years after the completion of treatment. Fatigue interferes with patients’ daily lives, reduces their quality of life, and is often a significant reason why patients discontinue treatment. We hypothesized that some of the fatigue may be related to disrupted circadian rhythms and low light exposure. The main objective of this study therefore was to investigate the association between fatigue and light exposure among patients with breast cancer.

Methods

As part of a larger, ongoing prospective study on fatigue, sleep, and circadian rhythms in patients with breast cancer, an analysis of 63 women newly diagnosed with stage I–IIIA breast cancer and scheduled to receive four cycles of adjuvant or neoadjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy was conducted. Data were collected before and during weeks 1, 2, and 3 of cycle 1 and cycle 4. Fatigue was assessed using the Short Form of Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory. Light exposure was recorded with a wrist actigraph.

Results

There were significant correlations between fatigue levels and light exposure (r=−0.28 to −0.45) within both cycle 1 and cycle 4, such that higher levels of fatigue were associated with less light exposure. There were also significant correlations between changes in light exposure and changes in fatigue within the first 2 weeks of each cycle (r=−0.28 to −0.52).

Conclusions

Increased fatigue was significantly correlated with decreased light exposure among patients with breast cancer. Although the cause and effect of exacerbated fatigue and decreased light exposure cannot be confirmed by the current study, and lower light exposure may just in part be due to the fatigued patients spending less time outdoors in bright light, two hypotheses are proposed about the mechanisms by which light may alleviate the fatigue of patients with breast cancer. These results suggest the need for prospective intervention studies of light therapy for breast-cancer-related fatigue.

Context

Evidence is lacking that a dietary pattern high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in total fat can influence breast cancer recurrence or survival.

Objective

To assess whether a major increase in vegetable, fruit, and fiber intake and a decrease in dietary fat intake reduces the risk of recurrent and new primary breast cancer and all-cause mortality among women with previously treated early stage breast cancer.

Design, Setting, and Participants

Multi-institutional randomized controlled trial of dietary change in 3088 women previously treated for early stage breast cancer who were 18 to 70 years old at diagnosis. Women were enrolled between 1995 and 2000 and followed up through June 1, 2006.

Intervention

The intervention group (n=1537) was randomly assigned to receive a telephone counseling program supplemented with cooking classes and newsletters that promoted daily targets of 5 vegetable servings plus 16 oz of vegetable juice; 3 fruit servings; 30 g of fiber; and 15% to 20% of energy intake from fat. The comparison group (n=1551) was provided with print materials describing the "5-A-Day" dietary guidelines.

Main Outcome Measures

Invasive breast cancer event (recurrence or new primary) or death from any cause.

Results

From comparable dietary patterns at baseline, a conservative imputation analysis showed that the intervention group achieved and maintained the following statistically significant differences vs the comparison group through 4 years: servings of vegetables, +65%; fruit, +25%; fiber, +30%, and energy intake from fat, −13%. Plasma carotenoid concentrations validated changes in fruit and vegetable intake. Throughout the study, women in both groups received similar clinical care. Over the mean 7.3-year follow-up, 256 women in the intervention group (16.7%) vs 262 in the comparison group (16.9%) experienced an invasive breast cancer event (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.80–1.14; P=.63), and 155 intervention group women (10.1%) vs 160 comparison group women (10.3%) died (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.72–1.15; P=.43). No significant interactions were observed between diet group and baseline demographics, characteristics of the original tumor, baseline dietary pattern, or breast cancer treatment.

Conclusion

Among survivors of early stage breast cancer, adoption of a diet that was very high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat did not reduce additional breast cancer events or mortality during a 7.3-year follow-up period.

Trial Registration

clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00003787

We have examined the discrete species of simian virus 40 (SV40) RNA present very early in infection of monkey cells with wild-type virus, with mutant tsA58 virus, and with the corresponding DNAs to distinguish between two classes of models for control of late transcription: (i) positive control mediated by large-T antigen and (ii) negative control mediated by a repressor protein associated with viral DNA in the virion. Total cytoplasmic or nuclear polyadenylated RNAs from infected cells were denatured with glyoxal, separated by electrophoresis on agarose gels, and transferred to diazobenzyloxymethyl paper. The positions of specific early and late RNA species were determined with region-specific SV40 DNA probes. The technique can detect individual RNAs present at the level of less than one copy per cell. After 9.5 h at 37°C, appreciable amounts of two early RNAs (2.6 kilobases [kb] and 2.9 kb) were present in the cytoplasm of cells infected with wild-type virus or DNA, along with much smaller amounts of two late RNAs, 1.6 kb (16S) and 2.5 kb (19S). The amounts of the late RNAs were reduced, but they were still synthesized in the presence of cytosine arabinoside, an inhibitor of DNA synthesis. In comparable infections with tsA58 virus or DNA at nonpermissive temperature (41°C), substantial amounts of the two early RNAs were again present, but the two late RNAs could not be detected. However, small amounts of the late RNAs were found when infections with tsA58 virus or DNA were prolonged to 30 h at 41°C. These results are not consistent with negative control of late transcription through the action of a repressor and, taken together with other data, suggest that T antigen has an active role in late RNA synthesis. Specific early and late viral RNAs were also detected in the nuclear poly(A)+ fractions and were similar in size to the RNA species found in the cytoplasmic polyadenylated fractions. The late nuclear RNAs (1.8 and 2.9 kb) were significantly larger than the late cytoplasmic species, possibly because they are precursors. The 2.6- and 2.9-kb early RNAs found in the cytoplasm are probably the messengers for large-T and small-t antigens, respectively.

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