Lack of breastfeeding history in parous women with inflammatory breast cancer predicts poor disease-free survival

Purpose: Breastfeeding alters the breast microenvironment, and several lines of evidence suggest the breast microenvironment contributes to the clinical phenotype of inflammatory breast cancer. We investigated breastfeeding history as a modifier of locoregional recurrence (LRR), distant metastasis (DM), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) in parous women with inflammatory breast cancer. Methods: Parous women with inflammatory breast cancer were identified from a prospective registry at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. We compared patient and tumor characteristics, LRR, DM, DFS, and OS patients with (BF+) and without (BF-) a history of breastfeeding. Results: Eighty-two patients were included. At a median follow-up of 50 months, BF+ patients had significantly lower risk of LRR (9.0% vs. 23.6%; p=0.01), a lower risk of DM (26.8% vs. 53.8%; p=0.008), and better DFS (73.1% vs. 48.1%; p=0.006) than BF- patients. On multivariate analysis, BF+ history was associated with significantly lower risk of DM (hazard ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.15-0.97; p=0.04) and better DFS (hazard ratio 0.37, 95% confidence interval 0.15-0.93; p=0.04) after adjusting for established predictive and prognostic variables. The prognostic significance of breastfeeding may be most pronounced in women with triple-negative IBC. Conclusion: A lack of breastfeeding history in parous women with inflammatory breast cancer may predict worse prognosis. We speculate that breastfeeding-induced alterations in the breast microenvironment may alter the aggressiveness of inflammatory breast cancer.