Fig. 3.

The collagen organisation in the breast is decreased by tamoxifen treatment and correlates to plasma-level endoxifen. A, B Change in area of different fibre classes within the organised collagen compartment in A all women treated with tamoxifen (1–20 mg) or B treated with tamoxifen or placebo. C Association between circulating endoxifen concentrations and change in area of (left) thin collagen fibres (middle) intermediate collagen fibres and (right) thick collagen fibres. Area changes were relative to the area of total birefringence, and all analyses were adjusted for menopausal status. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 between indicated groups. P_-difference for differences in distributions between all groups. Lines represent fitted regressions with mean 95% confidence interval. P for linear regression, beta for unstandardized beta coefficients, and 95% confidence interval on natural logarithmic transformed variable and non-transformed values