Logic Regression Analysis Of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a malignant neoplasm that is located within the cells of the breast. Normally, cells divide to grow, repair, and replace other cells. This cell division is controlled by DNA within the nucleus of every cell. However, when cells in the body start to grow out of control, cancer begins. A variety of factors, both genetic and environmental, may disrupt growth of regulatory pathways and result in the development of cancer. Major factors taken into consideration for breast cancer risk include “family history, lifestyle risk factors, previous biopsies, and breast density” (Mayo Clinic, 2015, pg. 2). In the past few decades, scientists have looked at the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes for inheritance of a genetic mutation on one or both genes. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are caretaker genes which function as …show more content…
Since individual common genetic variants associated with breast cancer have too small of an impact to contribute to risk, researchers aimed to determine whether a combination of 76 genetic variants could help to better predict risk when combined with factors such as breast density. Researchers conducted three epidemiologic studies using logistic regression models to determine whether a combination of 76 SNPs, called the polygenic risk score (PRS), was a statistically significant risk factor independent of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) breast density, which categorizes breasts into four categories of almost entirely fat, scattered fibroglandular densities, heterogeneously dense, extremely dense. After incorporating the data from 1643 case patients and 2397 control patients, researchers found that BI-RADS breast density and the PRS function independently in contribution of significant risk factor. Both are important risk factors for breast cancer prediction (Vachon et al.,