UCSF

Pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and depression are common and frequently occurring symptoms in oncology patients. This symptom cluster is often attributed to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The purposes of this study were to determine whether distinct latent classes of patients with breast cancer (n=398) could be identified based on their experience with this symptom cluster; determine whether patients in these latent classes differed on demographic and clinical characteristics; and to determine whether variations in cytokine genes were associated with latent class membership. Three distinct latent classes were identified: (All Low (61.0%), Low Pain and High Fatigue (31.6%), All High (7.1%)). Compared to patients in the All Low class, patients in the ALL High class were significantly younger, had less education, were more likely to be Non-White, had a lower annual income, were more likely to live alone, had a lower functional status, had a higher comorbidity score, and had more advanced disease. Significant associations were found between interleukin (IL) 6 rs2069845, IL13 rs1295686, and tumor necrosis factor alpha rs18800610 and latent class membership. Findings suggest that variations in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine genes are associated with this symptom cluster in breast cancer patients.