Abstract: Objective To explore the association between blood cadmium levels (BCLs) and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with breast cancer. Methods The clinicopathological characteristics and blood specimens of 186 patients diagnosed with breast cancer were collected between July and December 2009. BCLs were detected by graphitefurnace atomizer absorption spectrophotometer. MannWhitney U test and KruskalWallis H test were used to compare the BCLs of patients with different clinical characteristics. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationships between BCLs and some indices of clinical characteristics. Results The BCLs was 2.280(1.579) μg/L. The BCLs were significantly different in patients with different age and body mass index (BMI) (Z=-2.075,P=0.038; χ2=7.429, P=0.023). Also, there were significant differences in different T stages (χ2=10.137, P=0.017), M stages(Z=-2.225, P=0.026), clinical stages (χ2=16.060, P=0.001) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) status(Z=-2.072, P=0.038). Excepting for age (r=0.126, P=0.066), BCLs were positively associated with BMI, T stage, M stage,clinical stage and HER2 status (r=0.159, P=0.030; r=0.171, P=0.020; r=0.166, P=0.044; r=0.154, P=0.040; r=0.152, P=0.038).Conclusion The BCLs are associated with some clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer, and high blood cadmium burden may promote the development of breast cancer.

Key words: Cadmium, Breast neoplasms, Pathology, clinical