The study sample consisted of individuals who had been residing in the city of Shiraz for at least five years. The Ethics Committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences approved the study. The data of the 300 patients were used as cases in case-only design and case-control

design. Moreover, for case-control design the files of 300 people without breast or ovary cancer referring to the other divisions of Shahid Mottahari Clinic such as internal and surgical divisions were selected using convenient sampling method. Referrals to the other parts of the clinic may be considered population-based, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical because almost all socioeconomic groups refer to the clinic for specialist medical care. Matched Case-Control Design An important HDAC inhibitor concern in case-control studies is the difference that may exist between the subjects of case and control groups in terms of individual Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and exposure variables other than those being studied. A method to overcome this problem is the design of the study in a way that one can match the subjects of case and control groups in terms

of the factors considered. For this reason individual matching was conducted. As age is a major risk factor for breast cancer, and recognized as a potential altering variable, matching was conducted on it. On the other hand, matching increases the efficiency of the study.16 In case-control Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical studies, the main effects of non-matched variables and the interactions between these effects may be assessed. Therefore, we used conditional logistic regression analysis. First the case group files

were selected randomly from Cancer Registry Center in Breast Cancer Clinic. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Then for each case a matching control was selected using the ages of cases. For each case, a control woman, who had an age of ±3 years difference from the case’s age and had no ovary or breast cancer was selected. Case-Only Design The use of case-only design, to assess gene-environment Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical interaction was suggested by Piegorsch et al.17 The selection of cases in case-only designs is the same as that in other case-control studies. Although with case-only design alone one cannot assess the independent effects of exposure and genotype, independence assumption of environmental exposure and genotype are the basic premise of this design.5 The entire sample was used for case-only analysis consisting of people with the disease.17 The size STK38 achieved from the case-only technique is interpreted as a deviation from the multiplicative relationship.5 A sizable number of prevalent diseases are the result of the interactions between the genetic and environment factors.1 The major advantage of case-only designs application in genetic epidemiology and assessment of the gene-environment interaction is the simplicity of collecting the required data, and decrease of calculations and financial costs.