Biomarker patterns of inflammatory and metabolic pathways are associated with risk of colorectal cancer: Results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)

Journal article

A number of biomarkers of inflammatory and metabolic pathways are individually related to higher risk of colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the association between biomarker patterns and CRC incidence has not been previously evaluated. Our study investigates the association of biomarker patterns with CRC in a prospective nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). During median follow-up time of 7.0 (3.7-9.4) years, 1,260 incident CRC cases occurred and were matched to 1,260 controls using risk-set sampling. Pre-diagnostic measurements of C-peptide, glycated hemoglobin, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), C-reactive protein (CRP), reactive oxygen metabolites (ROM), insulin-like growth factor 1, adiponectin, leptin and soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R) were used to derive biomarker patterns from principal component analysis (PCA). The relation with CRC incidence was assessed using conditional logistic regression models. We identified four biomarker patterns 'HDL-C/Adiponectin fractions', 'ROM/CRP', 'TG/C-peptide' and 'leptin/sOB-R' to explain 60% of the overall biomarker variance. In multi-variable-adjusted logistic regression, the 'HDL-C/Adiponectin fractions', 'ROM/CRP' and 'leptin/sOB-R' patterns were associated with CRC risk [for the highest quartile vs the lowest, incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.69, 95% CI 0.51-0.93, P-trend = 0.01; IRR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.30-2.23, P-trend = 0.002; and IRR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.58-1.07; P-trend = 0.05, respectively]. In contrast, the 'TG/C-peptide' pattern was not associated with CRC risk (IRR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.56-1.00, P-trend = 0.24). After cases within the first 2 follow-up years were excluded, the 'ROM/CRP' pattern was no longer associated with CRC risk, suggesting potential influence of preclinical disease on these associations. By application of PCA, the study identified 'HDL-C/Adiponectin fractions', 'ROM/CRP' and 'leptin/sOB-R' as biomarker patterns representing potentially important pathways for CRC development. © Springer Science+Business Media 2014.

Authors: Aleksandrova, K; Jenab, M; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H; Fedirko, V; Kaaks, R

• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Journal: European Journal of Epidemiology
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 261-275
• Publication date: 2014-01-01
• DOI: 10.1007/s10654-014-9901-8
• EISSN: 1573-7284
• ISSN: 0393-2990
• Language: English
• Keywords: European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC); Inflammatory and metabolic pathways; Colorectal cancer; Biomarker patterns; Principal component analysis