AURKA is a putative low-penetrance
tumor susceptibility gene due to its prominent role in cell cycle regulation and centrosomal function. Germline variation in
AURKA was evaluated for association with
breast cancer and intrinsic
breast cancer subtypes in the Carolina
Breast Cancer Study (CBCS), a population-based case-control study of African Americans (AA) and Caucasians (Cau). Tag and candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on
AURKA were genotyped in 1946 cases and 1747 controls. In race-stratified analyses adjusted for age and African ancestry, odds ratios (
ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate SNP associations with
breast cancer. In a race-combined analysis with similar adjustment, these associations were also examined by intrinsic
breast cancer subtype. Using dominant models, most
AURKA SNPs demonstrated no association with
breast cancer in the race-stratified analyses. Among AA, rs6092309 showed an inverse association with
breast cancer (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.53-0.90). In the race-combined analyses, rs6099128 had reduced
ORs for
luminal A (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.60-0.95) and basal-like
breast cancer (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.37-0.80). Rs6092309 showed a similar pattern of association with each subtype. Three SNPs (rs6014711, rs911162, rs1047972) had positive associations with basal-like
breast cancer, and
ORs reduced or close to 1.00 for other subtypes. Our results suggest inverse associations between some
AURKA SNPs and overall
breast cancer in AA. We found differential associations by specific subtypes and by race. Replication of these findings in larger AA populations would allow more powerful race-stratified subtype analyses.