Acrylamide, a probable human
carcinogen, is formed in several foods during high-temperature processing. So far, epidemiological studies have not shown any association between human
cancer risk and dietary exposure to acrylamide. The purpose of this study was to conduct a nested case control study within a prospective cohort study on the association between
breast cancer and exposure to acrylamide using
biomarkers. N-terminal
hemoglobin adduct levels of acrylamide and its genotoxic metabolite,
glycidamide in red blood cells were analyzed (by LC/MS/MS) as
biomarkers of exposure on 374
breast cancer cases and 374 controls from a cohort of postmenopausal women. The adduct levels of acrylamide and
glycidamide were similar in cases and controls, with smokers having much higher levels (approximately 3 times) than nonsmokers. No association was seen between acrylamide-
hemoglobin levels and
breast cancer risk neither unadjusted nor adjusted for the potential confounders HRT duration, parity, BMI, alcohol intake and education. After adjustment for smoking behavior, however, a positive association was seen between acrylamide-
hemoglobin levels and
estrogen receptor positive
breast cancer with an estimated incidence rate ratio (95% CI) of 2.7 (1.1-6.6) per 10-fold increase in acrylamide-
hemoglobin level. A weak association between
glycidamide hemoglobin levels and incidence of
estrogen receptor positive
breast cancer was also found, this association, however, entirely disappeared when acrylamide and
glycidamide hemoglobin levels were mutually adjusted.