Nutrition-Related Biomarkers in Predicting Breast Cancer Risk in Women

OBJECTIVES:

- To complete characterization of metabolic serotypes based on both the proteome and the
metabolome, and to adapt these profiles for human epidemiological studies.

- To determine the extent to which metabolic profiles that are reflective of or
independent of long-term caloric intake predict breast cancer risk in nested
case-control studies.

- To identify critical serum metabolites.

OUTLINE: Laboratory studies, including metabolome profiling by high performance liquid
chromatography; proteomic profiling and protein identification by surface-enhanced laser
desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF); and small molecule
identification by mass spectroscopy, are performed on previously collected blood samples.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Meets 1 of the following criteria:

- Confirmed breast cancer that was diagnosed at least 2 years after blood sample
collection (case)

- No prior diagnosis of cancer

- Healthy participant (control)

- Enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study

- Banked blood samples available

- Hormone receptor status not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

- Menopausal status not specified

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

- Not specified