Association of circulating immuno-oncology biomarkers with breast cancer risk: insights from two prospective cohorts
npj Precision Oncology, 2025
Zheng J., Suo C., Wu Y., Cao B., Yuan Z., Jiang Y., Liu Z., Ye W., Yang H., Chen X.
| Disease area | Application area | Sample type | Products |
|---|---|---|---|
Oncology | Patient Stratification | Plasma |  Olink Target 96  Olink Explore 3072/384 |
Abstract
Immuno-oncology biomarkers are promising tools for cancer risk assessment and early detection. To identify and validate their associations with breast cancer, nested case-control studies within the Taizhou Longitudinal Study (TZL) cohort and the UK biobank Pharma Proteomics Project (UKB-PPP) were conducted, comprising 195 and 881 incident breast cancer patients, together with their matched controls. Among the 92 plasma proteins tested by the Olink Immuno-oncology panel, 11 proteins were associated with breast cancer risk in the TZL cohort after multiple testing correction. Notably, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) was validated in the UKB-PPP, particularly among postmenopausal women (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.03–1.24). The association was stronger with Estrogen Receptor-negative breast cancer and confirmed by Mendelian Randomization analysis. Additionally, HGF mediated the effects of Healthy Lifestyle Index (27.17%) and BMI (19.79%) on breast cancer risk. Therefore, HGF could be an intervention target by either medicines or lifestyle changes to improve the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.