| 1. |
- Aleksandrova, Krasimira, et al.
(author)
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Physical activity, mediating factors and risk of colon cancer : insights into adiposity and circulating biomarkers from the EPIC cohort
- 2017
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In: International Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press. - 0300-5771 .- 1464-3685. ; 46:6, s. 1823-1835
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There is convincing evidence that high physical activity lowers the risk of colon cancer; however, the underlying biological mechanisms remain largely unknown. We aimed to determine the extent to which body fatness and biomarkers of various biologically plausible pathways account for the association between physical activity and colon cancer. We conducted a nested case-control study in a cohort of 519 978 men and women aged 25 to 70 years followed from 1992 to 2003. A total of 713 incident colon cancer cases were matched, using risk-set sampling, to 713 controls on age, sex, study centre, fasting status and hormonal therapy use. The amount of total physical activity during the past year was expressed in metabolic equivalent of task [MET]-h/week. Anthropometric measurements and blood samples were collected at study baseline. High physical activity was associated with a lower risk of colon cancer: relative risk a parts per thousand91 MET-h/week vs < 91 MET-h/week = 0.75 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.57 to 0.96]. In mediation analyses, this association was accounted for by waist circumference: proportion explained effect (PEE) = 17%; CI: 4% to 52%; and the biomarkers soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R): PEE = 15%; 95% CI: 1% to 50% and 5-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D): PEE = 30%; 95% CI: 12% to 88%. In combination, these factors explained 45% (95% CI: 20% to 125%) of the association. Beyond waist circumference, sOB-R and 25[OH]D additionally explained 10% (95% CI: 1%; 56%) and 23% (95% CI: 6%; 111%) of the association, respectively. Promoting physical activity, particularly outdoors, and maintaining metabolic health and adequate vitamin D levels could represent a promising strategy for colon cancer prevention.
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| 2. |
- Anantharaman, Devasena, et al.
(author)
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Combined effects of smoking and HPV16 in oropharyngeal cancer
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0300-5771 .- 1464-3685. ; 45:3, s. 752-761
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Although smoking and HPV infection are recognized as important risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer, how their joint exposure impacts on oropharyngeal cancer risk is unclear. Specifically, whether smoking confers any additional risk to HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer is not understood.Methods: Using HPV serology as a marker of HPV-related cancer, we examined the interaction between smoking and HPV16 in 459 oropharyngeal (and 1445 oral cavity and laryngeal) cancer patients and 3024 control participants from two large European multicentre studies. Odds ratios and credible intervals [CrI], adjusted for potential confounders, were estimated using Bayesian logistic regression.Results: Both smoking [odds ratio (OR [CrI]: 6.82 [4.52, 10.29]) and HPV seropositivity (OR [CrI]: 235.69 [99.95, 555.74]) were independently associated with oropharyngeal cancer. The joint association of smoking and HPV seropositivity was consistent with that expected on the additive scale (synergy index [CrI]: 1.32 [0.51, 3.45]), suggesting they act as independent risk factors for oropharyngeal cancer.Conclusions: Smoking was consistently associated with increase in oropharyngeal cancer risk in models stratified by HPV16 seropositivity. In addition, we report that the prevalence of oropharyngeal cancer increases with smoking for both HPV16-positive and HPV16-negative persons. The impact of smoking on HPV16-positive oropharyngeal cancer highlights the continued need for smoking cessation programmes for primary prevention of head and neck cancer.
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| 3. |
- Berger, Eloise, et al.
(author)
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Association between low-grade inflammation and Breast cancer and B-cell Myeloma and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma : Findings from two prospective cohorts
- 2018
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 8:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Chronic inflammation may be involved in cancer development and progression. Using 28 inflammatory-related proteins collected from prospective blood samples from two case-control studies nested in the Italian component of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (n = 261) and in the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (n = 402), we tested the hypothesis that an inflammatory score is associated with breast cancer (BC) and Β-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (B-cell NHL, including 68 multiple myeloma cases) onset. We modelled the relationship between this inflammatory score and the two cancers studied: (BC and B-cell NHL) using generalised linear models, and assessed, through adjustments the role of behaviours and lifestyle factors. Analyses were performed by cancer types pooling both populations, and stratified by cohorts, and time to diagnosis. Our results suggested a lower inflammatory score in B-cell NHL cases (β = -1.28, p = 0.012), and, to lesser, extent with BC (β = -0.96, p = 0.33) compared to controls, mainly driven by cancer cases diagnosed less than 6 years after enrolment. These associations were not affected by subsequent adjustments for potential intermediate confounders, notably behaviours. Sensitivity analyses indicated that our findings were not affected by the way the inflammatory score was calculated. These observations call for further studies involving larger populations, larger variety of cancer types and repeated measures of larger panel of inflammatory markers.
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| 4. |
- Butt, Julia, et al.
(author)
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Antibody Responses to Fusobacterium nucleatum Proteins in Prediagnostic Blood Samples are not Associated with Risk of Developing Colorectal Cancer
- 2019
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In: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. - : American Association for Cancer Research. - 1055-9965 .- 1538-7755. ; 28:9, s. 1552-1555
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: There is a lack of prospective data on the potential association of Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) and colorectal cancer risk. In this study, we assessed whether antibody responses to F. nucleatum are associated with colorectal cancer risk in prediagnostic serum samples in the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer (EPIC) cohort.Methods: We applied a multiplex serology assay to simultaneously measure antibody responses to 11 F. nucleatum antigens in prediagnostic serum samples from 485 colorectal cancer cases and 485 matched controls. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: We observed neither a statistically significant colorectal cancer risk association for antibodies to individual F. nucleatum proteins nor for combined positivity to any of the 11 proteins (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.62–1.06).Conclusions: Antibody responses to F. nucleatum proteins in prediagnostic serum samples from a subset of colorectal cancer cases and matched controls within the EPIC study were not associated with colorectal cancer risk.Impact: Our findings in prospectively ascertained serum samples contradict the existing literature on the association of F. nucleatum with colorectal cancer risk. Future prospective studies, specifically detecting F. nucleatum in stool or tissue biopsies, are needed to complement our findings.
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| 5. |
- Caini, Saverio, et al.
(author)
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Coffee, tea and melanoma risk : findings from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
- 2017
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 140:10, s. 2246-2255
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In vitro and animal studies suggest that bioactive constituents of coffee and tea may have anticarcinogenic effects against cutaneous melanoma; however, epidemiological evidence is limited to date. We examined the relationships between coffee (total, caffeinated or decaffeinated) and tea consumption and risk of melanoma in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). EPIC is a multicentre prospective study that enrolled over 500,000 participants aged 25–70 years from ten European countries in 1992–2000. Information on coffee and tea drinking was collected at baseline using validated country-specific dietary questionnaires. We used adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the associations between coffee and tea consumption and melanoma risk. Overall, 2,712 melanoma cases were identified during a median follow-up of 14.9 years among 476,160 study participants. Consumption of caffeinated coffee was inversely associated with melanoma risk among men (HR for highest quartile of consumption vs. non-consumers 0.31, 95% CI 0.14–0.69) but not among women (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.62–1.47). There were no statistically significant associations between consumption of decaffeinated coffee or tea and the risk of melanoma among both men and women. The consumption of caffeinated coffee was inversely associated with melanoma risk among men in this large cohort study. Further investigations are warranted to confirm our findings and clarify the possible role of caffeine and other coffee compounds in reducing the risk of melanoma.
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| 6. |
- Campanella, Gianluca, et al.
(author)
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Epigenome-wide association study of adiposity and future risk of obesity-related diseases
- 2018
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In: International Journal of Obesity. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0307-0565 .- 1476-5497. ; 42:12, s. 2022-2035
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Obesity is an established risk factor for several common chronic diseases such as breast and colorectal cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases; however, the biological basis for these relationships is not fully understood. To explore the association of obesity with these conditions, we investigated peripheral blood leucocyte (PBL) DNA methylation markers for adiposity and their contribution to risk of incident breast and colorectal cancer and myocardial infarction.Methods: DNA methylation profiles (Illumina Infinium® HumanMethylation450 BeadChip) from 1941 individuals from four population-based European cohorts were analysed in relation to body mass index, waist circumference, waist-hip and waistheight ratio within a meta-analytical framework. In a subset of these individuals, data on genome-wide gene expression level, biomarkers of glucose and lipid metabolism were also available. Validation of methylation markers associated with all adiposity measures was performed in 358 individuals. Finally, we investigated the association of obesity-related methylation marks with breast, colorectal cancer and myocardial infarction within relevant subsets of the discovery population.Results: We identified 40 CpG loci with methylation levels associated with at least one adiposity measure. Of these, one CpG locus (cg06500161) in ABCG1 was associated with all four adiposity measures (P=9.07×10−8 to 3.27×10−18) and lower transcriptional activity of the full-length isoform of ABCG1 (P=6.00×10−7), higher triglyceride levels (P=5.37×10−9) and higher triglycerides-to-HDL cholesterol ratio (P=1.03×10−10). Of the 40 informative and obesity-related CpG loci, two (in IL2RB and FGF18) were significantly associated with colorectal cancer (inversely, P<1.6×10−3) and one intergenic locus on chromosome 1 was inversely associated with myocardial infarction (P<1.25×10−3), independently of obesity and established risk factors.Conclusion: Our results suggest that epigenetic changes, in particular altered DNA methylation patterns, may be an intermediate biomarker at the intersection of obesity and obesity-related diseases, and could offer clues as to underlying biological mechanisms.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Fedirko, Veronika, et al.
(author)
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Vitamin D-Related Genes, Blood Vitamin D Levels and Colorectal Cancer Risk in Western European Populations
- 2019
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In: Nutrients. - : MDPI. - 2072-6643. ; 11:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Higher circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (25(OH)D) have been found to be associated with lower risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) in prospective studies. Whether this association is modified by genetic variation in genes related to vitamin D metabolism and action has not been well studied in humans. We investigated 1307 functional and tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; individually, and by gene/pathway) in 86 vitamin D-related genes in 1420 incident CRC cases matched to controls from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. We also evaluated the association between these SNPs and circulating 25(OH)D in a subset of controls. We confirmed previously reported CRC risk associations between SNPs in the VDR, GC, and CYP27B1 genes. We also identified additional associations with 25(OH)D, as well as CRC risk, and several potentially novel SNPs in genes related to vitamin D transport and action (LRP2, CUBN, NCOA7, and HDAC9). However, none of these SNPs were statistically significant after Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) multiple testing correction. When assessed by a priori defined functional pathways, tumor growth factor beta (TGF beta) signaling was associated with CRC risk (P <= 0.001), with most statistically significant genes being SMAD7 (P-BH = 0.008) and SMAD3 (P-BH = 0.008), and 18 SNPs in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) binding sites (P = 0.036). The 25(OH)D-gene pathway analysis suggested that genetic variants in the genes related to VDR complex formation and transcriptional activity are associated with CRC depending on 25(OH)D levels (interaction P = 0.041). Additional studies in large populations and consortia, especially with measured circulating 25(OH)D, are needed to confirm our findings.
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| 9. |
- Forouhi, Nita G., et al.
(author)
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Association of Plasma Phospholipid n-3 and n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids with Type 2 Diabetes : The EPIC-InterAct Case-Cohort Study
- 2016
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In: PLoS Medicine. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1549-1277 .- 1549-1676. ; 13:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Whether and how n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are related to type 2 diabetes (T2D) is debated. Objectively measured plasma PUFAs can help to clarify these associations.Methods and Findings Plasma phospholipid PUFAs were measured by gas chromatography among 12,132 incident T2D cases and 15,919 subcohort participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-InterAct study across eight European countries. Country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Prentice-weighted Cox regression and pooled by random-effects meta-analysis. We also systematically reviewed published prospective studies on circulating PUFAs and T2D risk and pooled the quantitative evidence for comparison with results from EPIC-InterAct. In EPIC-InterAct, among long-chain n-3 PUFAs, a-linolenic acid (ALA) was inversely associated with T2D (HR per standard deviation [SD] 0.93; 95% CI 0.88-0.98), but eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were not significantly associated. Among n-6 PUFAs, linoleic acid (LA) (0.80; 95% CI 0.77-0.83) and eicosadienoic acid (EDA) (0.89; 95% CI 0.85-0.94) were inversely related, and arachidonic acid (AA) was not significantly associated, while significant positive associations were observed with.-linolenic acid (GLA), dihomo-GLA, docosatetraenoic acid (DTA), and docosapentaenoic acid (n6-DPA), with HRs between 1.13 to 1.46 per SD. These findings from EPIC-InterAct were broadly similar to comparative findings from summary estimates from up to nine studies including between 71 to 2,499 T2D cases. Limitations included potential residual confounding and the inability to distinguish between dietary and metabolic influences on plasma phospholipid PUFAs.Conclusions These large-scale findings suggest an important inverse association of circulating plant-origin n-3 PUFA (ALA) but no convincing association of marine-derived n3 PUFAs (EPA and DHA) with T2D. Moreover, they highlight that the most abundant n6-PUFA (LA) is inversely associated with T2D. The detection of associations with previously less well-investigated PUFAs points to the importance of considering individual fatty acids rather than focusing on fatty acid class.
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| 10. |
- Gallo, Valentina, et al.
(author)
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Exploring causality of the association between smoking and Parkinson's disease
- 2019
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In: International Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1464-3685 .- 0300-5771. ; 48:3, s. 912-925
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper is to investigate the causality of the inverse association between cigarette smoking and Parkinson's disease (PD). The main suggested alternatives include a delaying effect of smoking, reverse causality or an unmeasured confounding related to a low-risk-taking personality trait. METHODS: A total of 715 incident PD cases were ascertained in a cohort of 220 494 individuals from NeuroEPIC4PD, a prospective European population-based cohort study including 13 centres in eight countries. Smoking habits were recorded at recruitment. We analysed smoking status, duration, and intensity and exposure to passive smoking in relation to PD onset. RESULTS: Former smokers had a 20% decreased risk and current smokers a halved risk of developing PD compared with never smokers. Strong dose-response relationships with smoking intensity and duration were found. Hazard ratios (HRs) for smoking <20 years were 0.84 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.67-1.07], 20-29 years 0.73 (95% CI 0.56-0.96) and >30 years 0.54 (95% CI 0.43-0.36) compared with never smokers. The proportional hazard assumption was verified, showing no change of risk over time, arguing against a delaying effect. Reverse causality was disproved by the consistency of dose-response relationships among former and current smokers. The inverse association between passive smoking and PD, HR 0.70 (95% CI 0.49-0.99) ruled out the effect of unmeasured confounding. CONCLUSIONS: These results are highly suggestive of a true causal link between smoking and PD, although it is not clear which is the chemical compound in cigarette smoking responsible for the biological effect.
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