The Breast to Bone (B2B) Cohort Study to Prevent, Detect and Improve Treatment of Metastatic Disease: Baseline Assessment, Description and Progress

Women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer can develop metastatic disease following successful initial treatment, with bone being the most common site of metastases. The Breast to Bone (B2B) cohort study of early-stage breast cancer patients was established as a research platform to study the basic biology of breast cancer to bone metastasis and to identify the factors that could improve prevention, early detection and treatment for this debilitating and incurable disease. The B2B cohort includes 478 women diagnosed with incident primary breast cancer (stages I to III) who were recruited from Calgary, Alberta and surrounding areas between February 2010 and July 2015. Four projects have been conducted to date, utilizing data and samples from this cohort. These studies have found the following: (a) women with insufficient or deficient levels of vitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations in pretreatment serum samples had larger tumors and higher breast cancer grades, (b) several metabolomic biomarkers and cytokines were associated with tumor characteristics and time to recurrence, (c) additional biomarkers were found to be predictive for the high risk of bone metastasis and (d) circulating progastrin (hPG80) was associated with multiple survival outcomes. These research studies and future ones will provide new evidence on bone metastasis etiology in women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, improve identification of those at high risk and contribute to personalized treatment and prevention options.