| 1. |
- Walsh, Naomi, et al.
(author)
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Agnostic Pathway/Gene Set Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Data Identifies Associations for Pancreatic Cancer
- 2019
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In: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. - : Oxford University Press. - 0027-8874 .- 1460-2105. ; 111:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identify associations of individual single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with cancer risk but usually only explain a fraction of the inherited variability. Pathway analysis of genetic variants is a powerful tool to identify networks of susceptibility genes.Methods: We conducted a large agnostic pathway-based meta-analysis of GWAS data using the summary-based adaptive rank truncated product method to identify gene sets and pathways associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in 9040 cases and 12 496 controls. We performed expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis and functional annotation of the top SNPs in genes contributing to the top associated pathways and gene sets. All statistical tests were two-sided.Results: We identified 14 pathways and gene sets associated with PDAC at a false discovery rate of less than 0.05. After Bonferroni correction (P ≤ 1.3 × 10-5), the strongest associations were detected in five pathways and gene sets, including maturity-onset diabetes of the young, regulation of beta-cell development, role of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor transactivation by G protein-coupled receptors in cardiac hypertrophy pathways, and the Nikolsky breast cancer chr17q11-q21 amplicon and Pujana ATM Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) network gene sets. We identified and validated rs876493 and three correlating SNPs (PGAP3) and rs3124737 (CASP7) from the Pujana ATM PCC gene set as eQTLs in two normal derived pancreas tissue datasets.Conclusion: Our agnostic pathway and gene set analysis integrated with functional annotation and eQTL analysis provides insight into genes and pathways that may be biologically relevant for risk of PDAC, including those not previously identified.
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| 2. |
- Michaud, Dominique S., et al.
(author)
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Lifestyle, dietary factors, and antibody levels to oral bacteria in cancer-free participants of a European cohort study
- 2013
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In: Cancer Causes and Control. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0957-5243 .- 1573-7225. ; 24:11, s. 1901-1909
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence suggests that oral microbiota play a pivotal role in chronic diseases, in addition to the well-established role in periodontal disease. Moreover, recent studies suggest that oral bacteria may also be involved in carcinogenesis; periodontal disease has been linked to several cancers. In this study, we examined whether lifestyle factors have an impact on antibody levels to oral bacteria.METHODS: Data on demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and medical conditions were obtained at the time of blood sample collection. For the current analysis, we measured antibody levels to 25 oral bacteria in 395 cancer-free individuals using an immunoblot array. Combined total immunoglobin G (IgG) levels were obtained by summing concentrations for all oral bacteria measured.RESULTS: IgG antibody levels were substantially lower among current and former smokers (1,697 and 1,677 ng/mL, respectively) than never smokers (1,960 ng/mL; p trend = 0.01), but did not vary by other factors, including body mass index, diabetes, physical activity, or by dietary factors, after adjusting for age, sex, education, country, and smoking status. The highest levels of total IgG were found among individuals with low education (2,419 ng/mL).CONCLUSIONS: Our findings on smoking are consistent with previous studies and support the notion that smokers have a compromised humoral immune response. Moreover, other major factors known to be associated with inflammatory markers, including obesity, were not associated with antibody levels to a large number of oral bacteria.
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| 3. |
- Obón-Santacana, Mireia, et al.
(author)
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Acrylamide and glycidamide hemoglobin adduct levels and endometrial cancer risk : a nested case-control study in nonsmoking postmenopausal women from the EPIC cohort
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 138:5, s. 1129-1138
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Acrylamide, classified in 1994 by IARC as "probably carcinogenic to humans," was discovered in 2002 in some heat-treated, carbohydrate-rich foods. Four prospective studies have evaluated the association between dietary acrylamide intake and endometrial cancer (EC) risk with inconsistent results. The purpose of this nested case-control study, based on the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort, was to evaluate, for the first time, the association between hemoglobin adducts of acrylamide (HbAA) and glycidamide (HbGA) and the risk of developing EC in non-smoking postmenopausal women. Hemoglobin adducts were measured in red blood cells by HPLC/MS/MS. Four exposure variables were evaluated: HbAA, HbGA, their sum (HbAA+HbGA), and their ratio (HbGA/HbAA). The association between hemoglobin adducts and EC was evaluated using unconditional multivariable logistic regression models, and included 383 EC cases (171 were type-I EC), and 385 controls. Exposure variables were analyzed in quintiles based on control distributions. None of the biomarker variables had an effect on overall EC (HRHbAA;Q5vsQ1 : 0.84, 95%CI: 0.49-1.48; HRHbGA;Q5vsQ1 : 0.94, 95%CI: 0.54-1.63) or type-I EC risk. Additionally, none of the subgroups investigated (BMI < 25 vs. ≥25 kg m(-2) , alcohol drinkers vs. never drinkers, oral contraceptive users vs. non-users) demonstrated effect measure modification. Hemoglobin adducts of acrylamide or glycidamide were not associated with EC or type-I EC risk in 768 nonsmoking postmenopausal women from the EPIC cohort.
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| 4. |
- Romieu, Isabelle, et al.
(author)
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Alcohol intake and breast cancer in the European Prospective investigation into Cancer and Nutrition : Short title
- 2015
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 137:8, s. 1921-1930
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alcohol intake has been associated to breast cancer in pre and postmenopausal women; however results are inconclusive regarding tumor hormonal receptor status, and potential modifying factors like age at start drinking. Therefore, we investigated the relation between alcohol intake and the risk of breast cancer using prospective observational data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Up to 334,850 women, aged 35-70 years at baseline, were recruited in ten European countries and followed up an average of 11 years. Alcohol intake at baseline and average lifetime alcohol intake were calculated from country-specific dietary and lifestyle questionnaires. The study outcomes were the Hazard ratios (HR) of developing breast cancer according to hormonal receptor status. During 3,670,439 person-years, 11,576 incident breast cancer cases were diagnosed. Alcohol intake was significantly related to breast cancer risk, for each 10 g/day increase in alcohol intake the HR increased by 4.2% (95% CI: 2.7-5.8%). Taking 0 to 5 g/day as reference, alcohol intake of >5 to 15 g/day was related to a 5.9% increase in breast cancer risk (95% CI: 1-11%). Significant increasing trends were observed between alcohol intake and ER+/PR+, ER-/PR-, HER2- and ER-/PR-HER2- tumors. Breast cancer risk was stronger among women who started drinking prior to first full-time pregnancy. Overall, our results confirm the association between alcohol intake and both hormone receptor positive and hormone receptor negative breast tumors, suggesting that timing of exposure to alcohol drinking may affect the risk. Therefore, women should be advised to control their alcohol consumption. What's new? Although it is now established that alcohol consumption increases breast cancer risk, many questions remain. Using a prospective study design with 11,576 incident breast cancer cases across 10 European countries, the authors confirmed the increased risk of alcohol on breast cancer development. They further show that women who started drinking before their first full-term pregnancy have a higher risk than women who started afterwards. These effects were observed in hormone-receptor positive and -negative tumors pointing to non-hormonal pathways that need to be further investigated.
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| 5. |
- Romieu, Isabelle, et al.
(author)
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Fiber intake modulates the association of alcohol intake with breast cancer
- 2017
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 140:2, s. 316-321
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alcohol intake has been related to an increased risk of breast cancer (BC) while dietary fiber intake has been inversely associated to BC risk. A beneficial effect of fibers on ethanol carcinogenesis through their impact on estrogen levels is still controversial. We investigated the role of dietary fiber as a modifying factor of the association of alcohol and BC using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). This study included 334,850 women aged 35–70 years at baseline enrolled in the ten countries of the EPIC study and followed up for 11.0 years on average. Information on fiber and alcohol intake at baseline and average lifetime alcohol intake were calculated from country-specific dietary and lifestyle questionnaires. Hazard ratios (HR) of developing invasive BC according to different levels of alcohol and fiber intake were computed. During 3,670,439 person-years, 11,576 incident BC cases were diagnosed. For subjects with low intake of fiber (<18.5 g/day), the risk of BC per 10 g/day of alcohol intake was 1.06 (1.03–1.08) while among subjects with high intake of fiber (>24.2 g/day) the risk of BC was 1.02 (0.99–1.05) (test for interaction p = 0.011). This modulating effect was stronger for fiber from vegetables. Our results suggest that fiber intake may modulate the positive association of alcohol intake and BC. Alcohol is well known to increase the risk for BC, while a fiber-rich diet has the opposite effect. Here the authors find a significant interaction between both lifestyle factors indicating that high fiber intake can ease the adverse effects associated with alcohol consumption. Consequently, women with high alcohol intake and low fiber intake (<18.5 g/day) had the highest risk for BC. Specific benefits were associated with fibers from vegetable, warranting further investigations into specific fiber sources and their mechanistic interactions with alcohol-induced BC risk.
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| 6. |
- van Duijnhoven, Fraenzel J. B., et al.
(author)
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Circulating concentrations of vitamin D in relation to pancreatic cancer risk in European populations
- 2018
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : WILEY. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 142:6, s. 1189-1201
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Evidence from in vivo, in vitro and ecological studies are suggestive of a protective effect of vitamin D against pancreatic cancer (PC). However, this has not been confirmed by analytical epidemiological studies. We aimed to examine the association between pre-diagnostic circulating vitamin D concentrations and PC incidence in European populations. We conducted a pooled nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and the Nord-TrOndelag Health Study's second survey (HUNT2) cohorts. In total, 738 primary incident PC cases (EPIC n=626; HUNT2 n=112; median follow-up=6.9 years) were matched to 738 controls. Vitamin D [25(OH)D-2 and 25(OH)D-3 combined] concentrations were determined using isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Conditional logistic regression models with adjustments for body mass index and smoking habits were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Compared with a reference category of >50 to 75 nmol/L vitamin D, the IRRs (95% CIs) were 0.71 (0.42-1.20); 0.94 (0.72-1.22); 1.12 (0.82-1.53) and 1.26 (0.79-2.01) for clinically pre-defined categories of 25; >25 to 50; >75 to 100; and >100 nmol/L vitamin D, respectively (p for trend=0.09). Corresponding analyses by quintiles of season-standardized vitamin D concentrations also did not reveal associations with PC risk (p for trend=0.23). Although these findings among participants from the largest combination of European cohort studies to date show increasing effect estimates of PC risk with increasing pre-diagnostic concentrations of vitamin D, they are not statistically significant.
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| 7. |
- Bhoo-Pathy, Nirmala, et al.
(author)
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Intake of Coffee, Decaffeinated Coffee, or Tea Does Not Affect Risk for Pancreatic Cancer : Results From the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer Study
- 2013
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In: Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. - : Elsevier. - 1542-3565 .- 1542-7714. ; 11:11, s. 1486-1492
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND & AIMS: Few modifiable risk factors have been implicated in the etiology of pancreatic cancer. There is little evidence for the effects of caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or tea intake on risk of pancreatic cancer. We investigated the association of total coffee, caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption with risk of pancreatic cancer.METHODS: This study was conducted within the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort, comprising male and female participants from 10 European countries. Between 1992 and 2000, there were 477,312 participants without cancer who completed a dietary questionnaire, and were followed up to determine pancreatic cancer incidence. Coffee and tea intake was calibrated with a 24-hour dietary recall. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were computed using multivariable Cox regression.RESULTS: During a mean follow-up period of 11.6 y, 865 first incidences of pancreatic cancers were reported. When divided into fourths, neither total intake of coffee (HR, 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-1.27; high vs low intake), decaffeinated coffee (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.76-1.63; high vs low intake), nor tea were associated with risk of pancreatic cancer (HR, 1.22, 95% CI, 0.95-1.56; high vs low intake). Moderately low intake of caffeinated coffee was associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer (HR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.02-1.74), compared with low intake. However, no graded dose response was observed, and the association attenuated after restriction to histologically confirmed pancreatic cancers.CONCLUSIONS: Based on an analysis of data from the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort, total coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption are not related to the risk of pancreatic cancer.
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| 8. |
- Campa, Daniele, et al.
(author)
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Leukocyte telomere length in relation to pancreatic cancer risk: a prospective study.
- 2014
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In: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. - 1538-7755 .- 1055-9965. ; 23:11, s. 2447-2454
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Several studies have examined leukocyte telomere length (LTL) as a possible predictor for cancer at various organ sites. The hypothesis originally motivating many of these studies was that shorter telomeres would be associated with an increase in cancer risk, the results of epidemiologic studies have been inconsistent, however, and suggested positive, negative, or null associations. Two studies have addressed the association of LTL in relation to pancreatic cancer risk and the results are contrasting. Methods: we measured LTL in a prospective study of 331 pancreatic cancer cases and 331 controls in the context of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Results: We observed that the mean LTL was higher in cases (0.59±0.20) than in controls (0.57±0.17), although this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.07), and a basic logistic regression model showed no association of LTL with pancreas cancer risk. When adjusting for levels of HbA1c and C-Peptide, however, there was a weakly positive association between longer LTL and pancreatic cancer risk , OR=1.13 (1.01-1.27). Additional analyses by cubic spline regression suggested a possible non-linear relationship between RTL and pancreatic cancer risk (P=0.022), with a statistically non-significant increase in risk at very low LTL, as well as a significant increase at high LTL. Conclusion: Taken together, the results from our study do not support LTL as a uniform and strong predictor of pancreatic cancer. Impact: The results of this manuscript can provide insights into telomere dynamics and highlight the complex relationship between LTL and pancreatic cancer risk.
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| 9. |
- Fortner, Renee T., et al.
(author)
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Reproductive and hormone-related risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer by histologic pathways, invasiveness and histologic subtypes: Results from the EPIC cohort
- 2015
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 137:5, s. 1196-1208
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Whether risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) differ by subtype (i.e., dualistic pathway of carcinogenesis, histologic subtype) is not well understood; however, data to date suggest risk factor differences. We examined associations between reproductive and hormone-related risk factors for EOC by subtype in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Among 334,126 women with data on reproductive and hormone-related risk factors (follow-up: 1992-2010), 1,245 incident cases of EOC with known histology and invasiveness were identified. Data on tumor histology, grade, and invasiveness, were available from cancer registries and pathology record review. We observed significant heterogeneity by the dualistic model (i.e., type I [low grade serous or endometrioid, mucinous, clear cell, malignant Brenner] vs. type II [high grade serous or endometrioid]) for full-term pregnancy (p(het)=0.02). Full-term pregnancy was more strongly inversely associated with type I than type II tumors (ever vs. never: type I: relative risk (RR) 0.47 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.33-0.69]; type II, RR: 0.81 [0.61-1.06]). We observed no significant differences in risk in analyses by major histologic subtypes of invasive EOC (serous, mucinous, endometrioid, clear cell). None of the investigated factors were associated with borderline tumors. Established protective factors, including duration of oral contraceptive use and full term pregnancy, were consistently inversely associated with risk across histologic subtypes (e.g., ever full-term pregnancy: serous, RR: 0.73 [0.58-0.92]; mucinous, RR: 0.53 [0.30-0.95]; endometrioid, RR: 0.65 [0.40-1.06]; clear cell, RR: 0.34 [0.18-0.64]; p(het)=0.16). These results suggest limited heterogeneity between reproductive and hormone-related risk factors and EOC subtypes. What's new? Reproductive and hormone-related risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) have been extensively investigated. However, EOC is increasingly recognized as a heterogeneous disease and risk factor differences across EOC subtypes, as defined by the recently proposed dualistic pathway of ovarian carcinogenesis and histological characteristics, are not well understood. Here, the authors present a detailed prospective investigation on reproductive and hormone-related risk factors for borderline tumors and epithelial ovarian cancer by main histological subtypes and, for the first time, by the types defined by the dualistic pathway. The results suggest limited heterogeneity between reproductive and hormone-related risk factors and EOC subtypes.
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| 10. |
- Lujan-Barroso, Leila, et al.
(author)
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Dietary intake of acrylamide and esophageal cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort
- 2014
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In: Cancer Causes and Control. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0957-5243 .- 1573-7225. ; 25:5, s. 639-646
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PURPOSE: The relation between dietary acrylamide intake and esophageal cancer (EC) risk, including esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), has not been consistent. We evaluated the association between dietary acrylamide intake and EAC, ESCC, and overall EC in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.METHODS: Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the HR and 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI). Since nonlinear relations were observed, HRs were displayed for quartiles of acrylamide intake in μg per day.RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 11 years, 341 EC were identified, 142 of which were EAC, 176 ESCC, and 23 other histological types or not specified. An increase in EC risk was observed in the second and third quartiles (HRQ2vsQ1 1.75, 95 % CI 1.12-2.74; HRQ3vsQ1 1.66, 95 % CI 1.05-2.61), but not in the fourth quartile, and there was no evidence for a linear dose-response trend. HRs were similarly elevated but not statistically significant when ESCC and EAC were analyzed separately, due to the small number of cases observed. No associations were observed when quartiles were based on energy-adjusted acrylamide intake.CONCLUSIONS: In the EPIC cohort, an association between estimated dietary acrylamide intake and an increased risk of developing EC was observed in the middle quartiles but not in the highest quartile; however, results from other larger cohorts or consortia, and results from biomarker studies, might add to the evidence provided by this analysis, suggesting that acrylamide is not an important risk factor for EC.
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