Associations of adipokines & insulin resistance with sex steroids in patients with breast cancer

Several studies have suggested an important, but conflicting and controversial role for adipose tissue mass in breast cancer risk. Factors such as insulin-like growth factors, sex steroids, adipokines and obesity-related inflammatory markers have been postulated as potential effectors of the mechanisms by which obesity and associated metabolic disorders influence breast cancer risk. In this study we evaluated the associations between obesity indices, insulin resistance, circulating adipokines, sex steroids and breast cancer. Fasting adiponectin, leptin, insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment, HOMA-IR), testosterone, estradiol, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), LH and FSH were determined in 144 newly-diagnosed histologically confirmed breast cancer patients and 77 controls. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to find the associations of these variables with each other, indices of obesity and with breast cancer. BMI, waist circumference, HOMA-IR and leptin were significantly (P