Towards Understanding the Etiology of Male Breast Cancer: An Ongoing Research Challenge

Menée en Angleterre et au Pays de Galles par entretien auprès de 1 597 témoins et 1 998 patients atteints d'un cancer du sein diagnostiqué entre 2005 et 2017 (âge : moins de 80 ans), cette étude analyse l'association entre des caractéristiques anthropométriques et le risque de développer la maladie

Résumé en anglais

Male breast cancer is rare and accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancers, with an estimated 2,650 new cases in the United States in 2021, compared to 281,550 cases for women [1]. Despite increasing male breast cancer incidence rates worldwide over the past three decades [2], the etiology, prognosis, and treatment of male breast cancer is not well understood, as there are limited population-based studies and clinical trials focused on male breast cancer. Moreover, most treatment and clinical management guidelines for male breast cancer are based on studies of female breast cancer, even though males with breast cancer are older at diagnosis, are primarily diagnosed with hormone receptor positive tumors, and have different hormonal profiles than females [3]. Unlike female breast cancer risk factors that have been extensively studied, elucidating the role of different hormonal, genetic, and lifestyle factors for male breast cancer has been challenging, due to the rarity of the disease.