Sulfotransferase 1A1 genotype as a potential modifier of breast cancer risk among premenopausal women

SULT1A1 is involved in biotransformation of many endogenous and exogenous substrates, such as drugs, hormones and tobacco smoke carcinogens. A polymorphism in the sulfotransferase 1A1 gene (SULT1A1) results in an amino acid change from Arg to His at codon 213. The His allele (SULT1A1*2) has been shown to encode a protein with much lower catalytic activity than the protein encoded by the Arg allele (SULT1A1*1). We examined whether this polymorphism modified breast cancer risk in a Finnish-Caucasian study population consisting of 483 breast cancer patients and 482 healthy population controls. No significant genotype effects were seen in the overall breast cancer risk. However, a decreased risk of breast cancer was found among premenopausal women with at least three pregnancies and at least one SULT1A1*2 allele (odds ratio = 0.23, 95% confidence interval = 0.09-0.63) compared to women with two SULT1A1*1 alleles. Our results suggest that the SULT1A1 genotype is not an important risk factor for breast cancer in general, but may modify the risk among premenopausaul women with high parity.