Prognosis of breast cancer is associated with one-carbon metabolism related nutrients among Korean women

The 5-year survival rate for breast cancer among Korean women has increased steadily; however, breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer mortality among women. One-carbon metabolism, which requires an adequate supply of methyl group donors and B vitamins, may affect the prognosis of breast cancer. This aim of this study was to investigate the associations of dietary intake of vitamin B₂, vitamin B₆ and folate before diagnosis on the prognosis of breast cancer.

We assessed the dietary intake using a food frequency questionnaire with 980 women who were newly diagnosed and histopathologically confirmed to have primary breast cancer from hospitals in Korea, and 141 disease progression events occurred. Cox’s proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) adjusting for age, education, recruitment sites, TNM stage, hormone status, nuclear grade and total calorie.

There was no significant association between any one-carbon metabolism related nutrients (vitamin B₂, B₆ and folate) and the progression of breast cancer overall. However, one-carbon metabolism related nutrients were associated with disease progression in breast cancer patients stratified by subtypes. In ER + and/or PR + breast cancers, no association was observed; however, in ER–/PR– breast cancers, a high intake of vitamin B₂ and folate statistically elevated the HR of breast cancer progression (HR = 2.28; 95% CI, 1.20-4.35, HR = 1.84; 95% CI, 1.02-3.32, respectively) compared to a low intake. This positive association between the ER/PR status and progression of the disease was profound when the nutrient intakes were categorized in a combined score (P_interaction = 0.018). In ER–/PR– breast cancers, high combined scores were associated with a significantly poor DFS compared to those belonging to the low score group (HR = 3.84; 95% CI, 1.70-8.71).

In conclusion, our results suggest that one-carbon related nutrients have a role in the prognosis of breast cancer depending on the ER/PR status.