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- Assi, Nada, et al.
(author)
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Are Metabolic Signatures Mediating the Relationship between Lifestyle Factors and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk? Results from a Nested Case–Control Study in EPIC
- 2018
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In: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. - 1055-9965 .- 1538-7755. ; 27:5, s. 531-540
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The "meeting-in-the-middle" (MITM) is a principle to identify exposure biomarkers that are also predictors of disease. The MITM statistical framework was applied in a nested case-control study of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), where healthy lifestyle index (HLI) variables were related to targeted serum metabolites.Methods: Lifestyle and targeted metabolomic data were available from 147 incident HCC cases and 147 matched controls. Partial least squares analysis related 7 lifestyle variables from a modified HLI to a set of 132 serum-measured metabolites and a liver function score. Mediation analysis evaluated whether metabolic profiles mediated the relationship between each lifestyle exposure and HCC risk.Results: Exposure-related metabolic signatures were identified. Particularly, the body mass index (BMI)-associated metabolic component was positively related to glutamic acid, tyrosine, PC aaC38:3, and liver function score and negatively to lysoPC aC17:0 and aC18:2. The lifetime alcohol-specific signature had negative loadings on sphingomyelins (SM C16:1, C18:1, SM(OH) C14:1, C16:1 and C22:2). Both exposures were associated with increased HCC with total effects (TE) = 1.23 (95% confidence interval = 0.93-1.62) and 1.40 (1.14-1.72), respectively, for BMI and alcohol consumption. Both metabolic signatures mediated the association between BMI and lifetime alcohol consumption and HCC with natural indirect effects, respectively, equal to 1.56 (1.24-1.96) and 1.09 (1.03-1.15), accounting for a proportion mediated of 100% and 24%.Conclusions: In a refined MITM framework, relevant metabolic signatures were identified as mediators in the relationship between lifestyle exposures and HCC risk.Impact: The understanding of the biological basis for the relationship between modifiable exposures and cancer would pave avenues for clinical and public health interventions on metabolic mediators.
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- Assi, Nada, et al.
(author)
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Metabolic signature of healthy lifestyle and its relation with risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in a large European cohort
- 2018
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In: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. - : American Society for Nutrition. - 0002-9165 .- 1938-3207. ; 108:1, s. 117-126
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Studies using metabolomic data have identified metabolites from several compound classes that are associated with disease-related lifestyle factors.Objective: In this study, we identified metabolic signatures reflecting lifestyle patterns and related them to the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.Design: Within a nested case-control study of 147 incident HCC cases and 147 matched controls, partial least squares (PLS) analysis related 7 modified healthy lifestyle index (HLI) variables (diet, BMI, physical activity, lifetime alcohol, smoking, diabetes, and hepatitis) to 132 targeted serum-measured metabolites and a liver function score. The association between the resulting PLS scores and HCC risk was examined in multivariable conditional logistic regression models, where ORs and 95% CIs were computed.Results: The lifestyle component's PLS score was negatively associated with lifetime alcohol, BMI, smoking, and diabetes, and positively associated with physical activity. Its metabolic counterpart was positively related to the metabolites sphingomyelin (SM) (OH) C14:1, C16:1, and C22:2, and negatively related to glutamate, hexoses, and the diacyl-phosphatidylcholine PC aaC32:1. The lifestyle and metabolomics components were inversely associated with HCC risk, with the ORs for a 1-SD increase in scores equal to 0.53 (95% CI: 0.38, 0.74) and 0.28 (0.18, 0.43), and the associated AUCs equal to 0.64 (0.57, 0.70) and 0.74 (0.69, 0.80), respectively.Conclusions: This study identified a metabolic signature reflecting a healthy lifestyle pattern which was inversely associated with HCC risk. The metabolic profile displayed a stronger association with HCC than did the modified HLI derived from questionnaire data. Measuring a specific panel of metabolites may identify strata of the population at higher risk for HCC and can add substantial discrimination compared with questionnaire data. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03356535.
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- 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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- Guida, Florence, et al.
(author)
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Assessment of Lung Cancer Risk on the Basis of a Biomarker Panel of Circulating Proteins
- 2018
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In: JAMA Oncology. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 2374-2437 .- 2374-2445. ; 4:10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Importance There is an urgent need to improve lung cancer risk assessment because current screening criteria miss a large proportion of cases.Objective To investigate whether a lung cancer risk prediction model based on a panel of selected circulating protein biomarkers can outperform a traditional risk prediction model and current US screening criteria.Design, Setting, and Participants Prediagnostic samples from 108 ever-smoking patients with lung cancer diagnosed within 1 year after blood collection and samples from 216 smoking-matched controls from the Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET) cohort were used to develop a biomarker risk score based on 4 proteins (cancer antigen 125 [CA125], carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA], cytokeratin-19 fragment [CYFRA 21-1], and the precursor form of surfactant protein B [Pro-SFTPB]). The biomarker score was subsequently validated blindly using absolute risk estimates among 63 ever-smoking patients with lung cancer diagnosed within 1 year after blood collection and 90 matched controls from 2 large European population-based cohorts, the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS).Main Outcomes and Measures Model validity in discriminating between future lung cancer cases and controls. Discrimination estimates were weighted to reflect the background populations of EPIC and NSHDS validation studies (area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve [AUC], sensitivity, and specificity).Results In the validation study of 63 ever-smoking patients with lung cancer and 90 matched controls (mean [SD] age, 57.7 [8.7] years; 68.6% men) from EPIC and NSHDS, an integrated risk prediction model that combined smoking exposure with the biomarker score yielded an AUC of 0.83 (95% CI, 0.76-0.90) compared with 0.73 (95% CI, 0.64-0.82) for a model based on smoking exposure alone (P = .003 for difference in AUC). At an overall specificity of 0.83, based on the US Preventive Services Task Force screening criteria, the sensitivity of the integrated risk prediction (biomarker) model was 0.63 compared with 0.43 for the smoking model. Conversely, at an overall sensitivity of 0.42, based on the US Preventive Services Task Force screening criteria, the integrated risk prediction model yielded a specificity of 0.95 compared with 0.86 for the smoking model.Conclusions and Relevance This study provided a proof of principle in showing that a panel of circulating protein biomarkers may improve lung cancer risk assessment and may be used to define eligibility for computed tomography screening.
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- Zamora-Ros, Raul, et al.
(author)
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Dietary intake of total polyphenol and polyphenol classes and the risk of colorectal cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort
- 2018
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In: European Journal of Epidemiology. - : Springer Netherlands. - 0393-2990 .- 1573-7284. ; 33:11, s. 1063-1075
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Polyphenols may play a chemopreventive role in colorectal cancer (CRC); however, epidemiological evidence supporting a role for intake of individual polyphenol classes, other than flavonoids is insufficient. We evaluated the association between dietary intakes of total and individual classes and subclasses of polyphenols and CRC risk and its main subsites, colon and rectum, within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. The cohort included 476,160 men and women from 10 European countries. During a mean follow-up of 14 years, there were 5991 incident CRC cases, of which 3897 were in the colon and 2094 were in the rectum. Polyphenol intake was estimated using validated centre/country specific dietary questionnaires and the Phenol-Explorer database. In multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models, a doubling in total dietary polyphenol intake was not associated with CRC risk in women (HRlog2 = 1.06, 95% CI 0.99–1.14) or in men (HRlog2 = 0.97, 95% CI 0.90–1.05), respectively. Phenolic acid intake, highly correlated with coffee consumption, was inversely associated with colon cancer in men (HRlog2 = 0.91, 95% CI 0.85–0.97) and positively associated with rectal cancer in women (HRlog2 = 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19); although associations did not exceed the Bonferroni threshold for significance. Intake of other polyphenol classes was not related to colorectal, colon or rectal cancer risks. Our study suggests a possible inverse association between phenolic acid intake and colon cancer risk in men and positive with rectal cancer risk in women.
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