Central Adiposity Increases Risk of Kidney Stone Disease through Effects on Serum Calcium Concentrations.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Kidney stone disease is a common disorder with poorly understood pathophysiology. Observational and genetic studies indicate that adiposity is associated with an increased risk of kidney stone disease. However, the relative contribution of general and central adipose depots and the mechanisms by which effects of adiposity on kidney stone disease are mediated have not been defined. Using conventional and genetic epidemiological techniques, we demonstrate that general and central adiposity are independently associated with kidney stone disease. In addition, one mechanism by which central adiposity increases risk of kidney stone disease is by increasing serum calcium concentration. Therapies targeting adipose depots may affect calcium homeostasis and help to prevent kidney stone disease. BACKGROUND: Kidney stone disease affects approximately 10% of individuals in their lifetime and is frequently recurrent. The disease is linked to obesity, but the mechanisms mediating this association are uncertain. METHODS: Associations of adiposity and incident kidney stone disease were assessed in the UK Biobank over a mean of 11.6 years/person. Genome-wide association studies and Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were undertaken in the UK Biobank, FinnGen, and in meta-analyzed cohorts to identify factors that affect kidney stone disease risk. RESULTS: Observational analyses on UK Biobank data demonstrated that increasing central and general adiposity is independently associated with incident kidney stone formation. Multivariable MR, using meta-analyzed UK Biobank and FinnGen data, established that risk of kidney stone disease increases by approximately 21% per one standard deviation increase in body mass index (BMI, a marker of general adiposity) independent of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR, a marker of central adiposity) and approximately 24% per one standard deviation increase of WHR independent of BMI. Genetic analyses indicate that higher WHR, but not higher BMI, increases risk of kidney stone disease by elevating adjusted serum calcium concentrations (ß=0.12 mmol/L); WHR mediates 12%-15% of its effect on kidney stone risk in this way. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that visceral adipose depots elevate serum calcium concentrations, resulting in increased risk of kidney stone disease. These findings highlight the importance of weight loss in individuals with recurrent kidney stones and suggest that therapies targeting adipose depots may affect calcium homeostasis and contribute to prevention of kidney stone disease.

Association between metabolic syndrome and risk of incident dementia in UK Biobank.

INTRODUCTION: The association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and incident dementia remains inconclusive. METHODS: In 176,249 dementia-free UK Biobank participants aged ≥60 years at baseline, Cox proportional-hazards models were used to investigate the association between MetS and incident dementia. MetS was defined as the presence of ≥3 of the following: elevated waist circumference, triglycerides, blood pressure, blood glucose, and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. RESULTS: Over 15 years of follow-up (median = 12.3), 5255 participants developed dementia. MetS was associated with an increased risk of incident dementia (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.12, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06, 1.18). The association remained consistent when restricting to longer follow-up intervals: >5 to 10 years (HR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.27) and >10 years (HR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.12, 1.32). Stronger associations were observed in those with ≥4 MetS components and in apolipoprotein-E (APOE)-ε4 non-carriers. DISCUSSION: In this large population-based prospective cohort, MetS was associated with an increased risk of dementia. HIGHLIGHTS: MetS was associated with a 12% increased risk of incident all-cause dementia. Associations remained similar after restricting the analysis to those with longer follow-up. The presence of four or five MetS components was significantly associated with dementia. Stronger associations were observed in those with a low genetic risk for dementia.

UK Biobank: a globally important resource for cancer research.

UK Biobank is a large-scale prospective study with deep phenotyping and genomic data. Its open-access policy allows researchers worldwide, from academia or industry, to perform health research in the public interest. Between 2006 and 2010, the study recruited 502,000 adults aged 40-69 years from the general population of the United Kingdom. At enrolment, participants provided information on a wide range of factors, physical measurements were taken, and biological samples (blood, urine and saliva) were collected for long-term storage. Participants have now been followed up for over a decade with more than 52,000 incident cancer cases recorded. The study continues to be enhanced with repeat assessments, web-based questionnaires, multi-modal imaging, and conversion of the stored biological samples to genomic and other '-omic' data. The study has already demonstrated its value in enabling research into the determinants of cancer, and future planned enhancements will make the resource even more valuable to cancer researchers. Over 26,000 researchers worldwide are currently using the data, performing a wide range of cancer research. UK Biobank is uniquely placed to transform our understanding of the causes of cancer development and progression, and drive improvements in cancer treatment and prevention over the coming decades.

Multi-morbidity and its association with common cancer diagnoses: a UK Biobank prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Whilst multi-morbidity is known to be a concern in people with cancer, very little is known about the risk of cancer in multi-morbid patients. This study aims to investigate the risk of being diagnosed with lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer associated with multi-morbidity. METHODS: We investigated the association between multi-morbidity and subsequent risk of cancer diagnosis in UK Biobank. Cox models were used to estimate the relative risks of each cancer of interest in multi-morbid participants, using the Cambridge Multimorbidity Score. The extent to which reverse causation, residual confounding and ascertainment bias may have impacted on the findings was robustly investigated. RESULTS: Of the 436,990 participants included in the study who were cancer-free at baseline, 21.6% (99,965) were multi-morbid (≥ 2 diseases). Over a median follow-up time of 10.9 [IQR 10.0-11.7] years, 9,019 prostate, 7,994 breast, 5,241 colorectal, and 3,591 lung cancers were diagnosed. After exclusion of the first year of follow-up, there was no clear association between multi-morbidity and risk of colorectal, prostate or breast cancer diagnosis. Those with ≥ 4 diseases at recruitment had double the risk of a subsequent lung cancer diagnosis compared to those with no diseases (HR 2.00 [95% CI 1.70-2.35] p for trend < 0.001). These findings were robust to sensitivity analyses aimed at reducing the impact of reverse causation, residual confounding from known cancer risk factors and ascertainment bias. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with multi-morbidity are at an increased risk of lung cancer diagnosis. While this association did not appear to be due to common sources of bias in observational studies, further research is needed to understand what underlies this association.

Human Cytomegalovirus and Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease in United Kingdom Biobank.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have yielded conflicting results on the association between human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study examined associations between HCMV and incident CVD, ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke. METHODS: This study included 8531 women and men of predominantly white ethnic background, aged 40-69 without prevalent CVD from the population-based UK Biobank study, recruited between 2006-2010 with HCMV antibody levels measured. CVD was ascertained via linkage to health administrative records collected until 2020. Multivariate Cox proportional-hazards models were used to determine associations between HCMV seropositivity and incident CVD, IHD and stroke. HCMV seropositive antibody levels in tertiles were used to assess dose-response associations. RESULTS: Over a mean follow-up period of 10.2 years, HCMV seropositivity was not significantly associated with CVD (Cases = 626, Hazard Ratio [HR] =1.01, 95% confidence interval [CI], .86-1.20), IHD (Cases = 539, HR=1.03, 95% CI, .87-1.24) or stroke (Cases = 144, HR = 0.96, 95% CI, .68-1.36). There was no evidence of dose-response associations with any outcome. CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant association between HCMV seropositivity and risk of CVD, IHD or stroke. Further research within understudied populations, such as those of non-white ethnicity, and CVD subtypes is warranted.

Metabolic syndrome biomarkers and prostate cancer risk in the UK Biobank.

We investigated the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components and risk of prostate cancer (PCa) in a cohort of men enrolled in the UK Biobank. Our study cohort included 220 622 PCa-free men with baseline measurements of triglycerides (TGs), HDL-cholesterol (HDL), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure (BP), and waist circumference (WC). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyze associations with PCa for: individual metabolic components (TG, HDL, HbA1c, BP, WC), combinations of two and three components, and MetS overall (three or more components). We conducted mediation analyses to examine potential hormonal and inflammatory pathways (total testosterone [TT], C-reactive protein [CRP], insulin-like growth factor 1 [IGF-1]) through which MetS components may influence PCa risk. A total of 5409 men in the study developed PCa during a median follow-up of 6.9 years. We found no significant association between MetS and PCa risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.92-1.06). No associations were found with PCa risk and individual measurements of TG, HDL, BP, or WC. However, an inverse association was observed with elevated HbA1c (≥42 mmol/mol) (HR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.79-0.98). Consistent inverse associations were observed between HbA1c and risk of PCa. Mediation analysis revealed TT, CRP, and IGF-1 as potential mediating factors for this association contributing 10.2%, 7.1%, and 7.9% to the total effect, respectively. Overall MetS had no association with PCa risk. However, a consistent inverse association with PCa risk was found for HbA1c. This association may be explained in part through hormonal and inflammatory pathways.

Circulating insulin-like growth factor-I, total and free testosterone concentrations and prostate cancer risk in 200 000 men in UK Biobank.

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and testosterone have been implicated in prostate cancer aetiology. Using data from a large prospective full-cohort with standardised assays and repeat blood measurements, and genetic data from an international consortium, we investigated the associations of circulating IGF-I, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and total and calculated free testosterone concentrations with prostate cancer incidence and mortality. For prospective analyses, risk was estimated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression in 199 698 male UK Biobank participants. Hazard ratios (HRs) were corrected for regression dilution bias using repeat hormone measurements from a subsample. Two-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis of IGF-I and risk used genetic instruments identified from UK Biobank men and genetic outcome data from the PRACTICAL consortium (79 148 cases and 61 106 controls). We used cis- and all (cis and trans) SNP MR approaches. A total of 5402 men were diagnosed with and 295 died from prostate cancer (mean follow-up 6.9 years). Higher circulating IGF-I was associated with elevated prostate cancer diagnosis (HR per 5 nmol/L increment = 1.09, 95% CI 1.05-1.12) and mortality (HR per 5 nmol/L increment = 1.15, 1.02-1.29). MR analyses also supported the role of IGF-I in prostate cancer diagnosis (cis-MR odds ratio per 5 nmol/L increment = 1.34, 1.07-1.68). In observational analyses, higher free testosterone was associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer (HR per 50 pmol/L increment = 1.10, 1.05-1.15). Higher SHBG was associated with a lower risk (HR per 10 nmol/L increment = 0.95, 0.94-0.97), neither was associated with prostate cancer mortality. Total testosterone was not associated with prostate cancer. These findings implicate IGF-I and free testosterone in prostate cancer development and/or progression.

Physical activity in relation to circulating hormone concentrations in 117,100 men in UK Biobank.

PURPOSE: Physical activity may reduce the risk of some types of cancer in men. Biological mechanisms may involve changes in hormone concentrations; however, this relationship is not well established. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the associations of physical activity with circulating insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG, which modifies sex hormone activity), and total and free testosterone concentrations, and the extent these associations might be mediated by body mass index (BMI). METHODS: Circulating concentrations of these hormones and anthropometric measurements and self-reported physical activity data were available for 117,100 healthy male UK Biobank participants at recruitment. Objectively measured accelerometer physical activity levels were also collected on average 5.7 years after recruitment in 28,000 men. Geometric means of hormone concentrations were estimated using multivariable-adjusted analysis of variance, with and without adjustment for BMI. RESULTS: The associations between physical activity and hormones were modest and similar for objectively measured (accelerometer) and self-reported physical activity. Compared to men with the lowest objectively measured physical activity, men with high physical activity levels had 14% and 8% higher concentrations of SHBG and total testosterone, respectively, and these differences were attenuated to 6% and 3% following adjustment for BMI. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the associations of physical activity with the hormones investigated are, at most, modest; and following adjustment for BMI, the small associations with SHBG and total testosterone were largely attenuated. Therefore, it is unlikely that changes in these circulating hormones explain the associations of physical activity with risk of cancer either independently or via BMI.

Body size, body composition and endometrial cancer risk among postmenopausal women in UK Biobank.

Previous studies on the association of adiposity with endometrial cancer risk have mostly used body mass index (BMI) as the main exposure of interest. Whether more precise measures of body fat, such as body fat percentage and fat mass estimated by bioimpedance analyses, are better indicators of risk than BMI is unknown. The role of central adiposity and fat-free mass in endometrial cancer development remains unclear. We used Cox regression models to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations of various measures of body size/composition with the risk of endometrial cancer among 135 110 postmenopausal women enrolled in UK Biobank. During a mean follow up of 6.8 years, 706 endometrial cancers were diagnosed, with a mean age at diagnosis of 65.5 years. The HRs (95% CIs) for endometrial cancer per 1 SD increase in BMI, body fat percentage and fat mass were broadly comparable, being 1.71 (1.61-1.82), 1.92 (1.75-2.11) and 1.73 (1.63-1.85), respectively. There was an indication of positive association between central adiposity, as reflected by waist circumference (HRper 1-SD increase = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.00-1.17) and waist to hip ratio (HRper 1-SD increase = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.01-1.26), and endometrial cancer risk after accounting for BMI. Fat-free mass was not an independent predictor of risk in this cohort. These findings suggest that body fat percentage and fat mass are not better indicators of endometrial cancer risk than BMI. Further studies are needed to establish whether central adiposity contributes to risk beyond overall adiposity.

Hormone-related diseases and prostate cancer: An English national record linkage study.

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and testosterone may be related to prostate cancer risk. Acromegaly is associated with clinically high IGF-I concentrations. Klinefelter's syndrome, testicular hypofunction and hypopituitarism are associated with clinically low testosterone concentrations. We aimed to investigate whether diagnosis with these conditions was associated with subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis and mortality. We used linked English national Hospital Episode Statistics and mortality data from 1999 to 2017 to construct and follow-up cohorts of men aged ≥35 years diagnosed with (i) acromegaly (n = 2,495) and (ii) hypogonadal-associated diseases (n = 18,763): Klinefelter's syndrome (n = 1,992), testicular hypofunction (n = 8,086) and hypopituitarism (n = 10,331). We estimated adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and confidence intervals (CIs) for prostate cancer diagnosis and death using Cox regression in comparison with an unexposed reference cohort of 4.3 million men, who were admitted to hospital for a range of minor surgeries and conditions (n observed cases = 130,000, n prostate cancer deaths = 30,000). For men diagnosed with acromegaly, HR for prostate cancer diagnosis was 1.33 (95% CI 1.09-1.63; p = 0.005; n observed cases = 96), HR for prostate cancer death was 1.44 (95% CI 0.92-2.26; p = 0.11; n deaths = 19). Diagnosis with Klinefelter's syndrome was associated with a lower prostate cancer risk (HR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.37-0.91; p = 0.02; n observed cases = 19) and hypopituitarism was associated with a reduction in prostate cancer death (HR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.35-0.79; p = 0.002; n deaths = 23). These results support the hypothesised roles of IGF-I and testosterone in prostate cancer development and/or progression. These findings are important because they provide insight into prostate cancer aetiology.

Theoretical potential for endometrial cancer prevention through primary risk factor modification: Estimates from the EPIC cohort.

Endometrial cancer (EC) incidence rates vary ~10-fold worldwide, in part due to variation in EC risk factor profiles. Using an EC risk model previously developed in the European EPIC cohort, we evaluated the prevention potential of modified EC risk factor patterns and whether differences in EC incidence between a European population and low-risk countries can be explained by differences in these patterns. Predicted EC incidence rates were estimated over 10 years of follow-up for the cohort before and after modifying risk factor profiles. Risk factors considered were: body mass index (BMI, kg/m2 ), use of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) and oral contraceptives (OC) (potentially modifiable); and, parity, ages at first birth, menarche and menopause (environmentally conditioned, but not readily modifiable). Modeled alterations in BMI (to all ≤23 kg/m2 ) and HT use (to all non-HT users) profiles resulted in a 30% reduction in predicted EC incidence rates; individually, longer duration of OC use (to all ≥10 years) resulted in a 42.5% reduction. Modeled changes in not readily modifiable exposures (i.e., those not contributing to prevention potential) resulted in ≤24.6% reduction in predicted EC incidence. Women in the lowest decile of a risk score based on the evaluated exposures had risk similar to a low risk countries; however, this was driven by relatively long use of OCs (median = 23 years). Our findings support avoidance of overweight BMI and of HT use as prevention strategies for EC in a European population; OC use must be considered in the context of benefits and risks.

Examination of potential novel biochemical factors in relation to prostate cancer incidence and mortality in UK Biobank.

BACKGROUND: Although prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death, its aetiology is not well understood. We aimed to identify novel biochemical factors for prostate cancer incidence and mortality in UK Biobank. METHODS: A range of cardiovascular, bone, joint, diabetes, renal and liver-related biomarkers were measured in baseline blood samples collected from up to 211,754 men at recruitment and in a subsample 5 years later. Participants were followed-up via linkage to health administrative datasets to identify prostate cancer cases. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression corrected for regression dilution bias. Multiple testing was accounted for by using a false discovery rate controlling procedure. RESULTS: After an average follow-up of 6.9 years, 5763 prostate cancer cases and 331 prostate cancer deaths were ascertained. Prostate cancer incidence was positively associated with circulating vitamin D, urea and phosphate concentrations and inversely associated with glucose, total protein and aspartate aminotransferase. Phosphate and cystatin-C were the only biomarkers positively and inversely, respectively, associated with risk in analyses excluding the first 4 years of follow-up. There was little evidence of associations with prostate cancer death. CONCLUSION: We found novel associations of several biomarkers with prostate cancer incidence. Future research will examine associations by tumour characteristics.

Circulating insulin-like growth factor I in relation to melanoma risk in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition.

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis, and is thought to play a role in tumour development. Previous prospective studies have shown that higher circulating concentrations of IGF-I are associated with a higher risk of cancers at specific sites, including breast and prostate. No prospective study has examined the association between circulating IGF-I concentrations and melanoma risk. A nested case-control study of 1,221 melanoma cases and 1,221 controls was performed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort, a prospective cohort of 520,000 participants recruited from 10 European countries. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for incident melanoma in relation to circulating IGF-I concentrations, measured by immunoassay. Analyses were conditioned on the matching factors and further adjusted for age at blood collection, education, height, BMI, smoking status, alcohol intake, marital status, physical activity and in women only, use of menopausal hormone therapy. There was no significant association between circulating IGF-I concentration and melanoma risk (OR for highest vs lowest fifth = 0.93 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.71 to 1.22]). There was no significant heterogeneity in the association between IGF-I concentrations and melanoma risk when subdivided by gender, age at blood collection, BMI, height, age at diagnosis, time between blood collection and diagnosis, or by anatomical site or histological subtype of the tumour (Pheterogeneity≥0.078). We found no evidence for an association between circulating concentrations of IGF-I measured in adulthood and the risk of melanoma.

Reproductive Factors, Exogenous Hormone Use, and Risk of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in a Cohort of Women From the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition.

The role of hormonal factors in the etiology of lymphoid neoplasms remains unclear. Previous studies have yielded conflicting results, have lacked sufficient statistical power to assess many lymphoma subtypes, or have lacked detailed information on relevant exposures. Within the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition cohort, we analyzed comprehensive data on reproductive factors and exogenous hormone use collected at baseline (1992-2000) among 343,458 women, including data on 1,427 incident cases of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and its major subtypes identified after a mean follow-up period of 14 years (through 2015). We estimated hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariable proportional hazards modeling. Overall, we observed no statistically significant associations between parity, age at first birth, breastfeeding, oral contraceptive use, or ever use of postmenopausal hormone therapy and risk of B-cell NHL or its subtypes. Women who had undergone surgical menopause had a 51% higher risk of B-cell NHL (based on 67 cases) than women with natural menopause (hazard ratio = 1.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.17, 1.94). Given that this result may have been due to chance, our results provide little support for the hypothesis that sex hormones play a role in lymphomagenesis.

Identifying dementia outcomes in UK Biobank: a validation study of primary care, hospital admissions and mortality data.

Prospective, population-based studies that recruit participants in mid-life are valuable resources for dementia research. Follow-up in these studies is often through linkage to routinely-collected healthcare datasets. We investigated the accuracy of these datasets for dementia case ascertainment in a validation study using data from UK Biobank-an open access, population-based study of > 500,000 adults aged 40-69 years at recruitment in 2006-2010. From 17,198 UK Biobank participants recruited in Edinburgh, we identified those with ≥ 1 dementia code in their linked primary care, hospital admissions or mortality data and compared their coded diagnoses to clinical expert adjudication of their full-text medical record. We calculated the positive predictive value (PPV, the proportion of cases identified that were true positives) for all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia for each dataset alone and in combination, and explored algorithmic code combinations to improve PPV. Among 120 participants, PPVs for all-cause dementia were 86.8%, 87.3% and 80.0% for primary care, hospital admissions and mortality data respectively and 82.5% across all datasets. We identified three algorithms that balanced a high PPV with reasonable case ascertainment. For Alzheimer's disease, PPVs were 74.1% for primary care, 68.2% for hospital admissions, 50.0% for mortality data and 71.4% in combination. PPV for vascular dementia was 43.8% across all sources. UK routinely-collected healthcare data can be used to identify all-cause dementia in prospective studies. PPVs for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia are lower. Further research is required to explore the geographic generalisability of these findings.

Circulating isoflavone and lignan concentrations and prostate cancer risk: a meta-analysis of individual participant data from seven prospective studies including 2,828 cases and 5,593 controls.

Phytoestrogens may influence prostate cancer development. This study aimed to examine the association between prediagnostic circulating concentrations of isoflavones (genistein, daidzein, equol) and lignans (enterolactone and enterodiol) and the risk of prostate cancer. Individual participant data were available from seven prospective studies (two studies from Japan with 241 cases and 503 controls and five studies from Europe with 2,828 cases and 5,593 controls). Because of the large difference in circulating isoflavone concentrations between Japan and Europe, analyses of the associations of isoflavone concentrations and prostate cancer risk were evaluated separately. Prostate cancer risk by study-specific fourths of circulating concentrations of each phytoestrogen was estimated using multivariable-adjusted conditional logistic regression. In men from Japan, those with high compared to low circulating equol concentrations had a lower risk of prostate cancer (multivariable-adjusted OR for upper quartile [Q4] vs. Q1 = 0.61, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.39-0.97), although there was no significant trend (OR per 75 percentile increase = 0.69, 95 CI = 0.46-1.05, ptrend = 0.085); Genistein and daidzein concentrations were not significantly associated with risk (ORs for Q4 vs. Q1 = 0.70, 0.45-1.10 and 0.71, 0.45-1.12, respectively). In men from Europe, circulating concentrations of genistein, daidzein and equol were not associated with risk. Circulating lignan concentrations were not associated with the risk of prostate cancer, overall or by disease aggressiveness or time to diagnosis. There was no strong evidence that prediagnostic circulating concentrations of isoflavones or lignans are associated with prostate cancer risk, although further research is warranted in populations where isoflavone intakes are high.

Prediagnostic circulating concentrations of plasma insulin-like growth factor-I and risk of lymphoma in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I has cancer promoting activities. However, the hypothesis that circulating IGF-I concentration is related to risk of lymphoma overall or its subtypes has not been examined prospectively. IGF-I concentration was measured in pre-diagnostic plasma samples from a nested case-control study of 1,072 cases of lymphoid malignancies and 1,072 individually matched controls from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) for lymphoma were calculated using conditional logistic regression. IGF-I concentration was not associated with overall lymphoma risk (multivariable-adjusted OR for highest versus lowest third = 0.77 [95% CI = 0.57-1.03], ptrend = 0.06). There was no statistical evidence of heterogeneity in this association with IGF-I by sex, age at blood collection, time between blood collection and diagnosis, age at diagnosis, or body mass index (pheterogeneity for all ≥ 0.05). There were no associations between IGF-I concentration and risk for specific BCL subtypes, T-cell lymphoma or Hodgkin lymphoma, although number of cases were small. In this European population, IGF-I concentration was not associated with risk of overall lymphoma. This study provides the first prospective evidence on circulating IGF-I concentrations and risk of lymphoma. Further prospective data are required to examine associations of IGF-I concentrations with lymphoma subtypes.

Endometrial cancer risk prediction including serum-based biomarkers: results from the EPIC cohort.

Endometrial cancer risk prediction models including lifestyle, anthropometric and reproductive factors have limited discrimination. Adding biomarker data to these models may improve predictive capacity; to our knowledge, this has not been investigated for endometrial cancer. Using a nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort, we investigated the improvement in discrimination gained by adding serum biomarker concentrations to risk estimates derived from an existing risk prediction model based on epidemiologic factors. Serum concentrations of sex steroid hormones, metabolic markers, growth factors, adipokines and cytokines were evaluated in a step-wise backward selection process; biomarkers were retained at p < 0.157 indicating improvement in the Akaike information criterion (AIC). Improvement in discrimination was assessed using the C-statistic for all biomarkers alone, and change in C-statistic from addition of biomarkers to preexisting absolute risk estimates. We used internal validation with bootstrapping (1000-fold) to adjust for over-fitting. Adiponectin, estrone, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and triglycerides were selected into the model. After accounting for over-fitting, discrimination was improved by 2.0 percentage points when all evaluated biomarkers were included and 1.7 percentage points in the model including the selected biomarkers. Models including etiologic markers on independent pathways and genetic markers may further improve discrimination.

Comparison of Sociodemographic and Health-Related Characteristics of UK Biobank Participants With Those of the General Population.

The UK Biobank cohort is a population-based cohort of 500,000 participants recruited in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2006 and 2010. Approximately 9.2 million individuals aged 40-69 years who lived within 25 miles (40 km) of one of 22 assessment centers in England, Wales, and Scotland were invited to enter the cohort, and 5.5% participated in the baseline assessment. The representativeness of the UK Biobank cohort was investigated by comparing demographic characteristics between nonresponders and responders. Sociodemographic, physical, lifestyle, and health-related characteristics of the cohort were compared with nationally representative data sources. UK Biobank participants were more likely to be older, to be female, and to live in less socioeconomically deprived areas than nonparticipants. Compared with the general population, participants were less likely to be obese, to smoke, and to drink alcohol on a daily basis and had fewer self-reported health conditions. At age 70-74 years, rates of all-cause mortality and total cancer incidence were 46.2% and 11.8% lower, respectively, in men and 55.5% and 18.1% lower, respectively, in women than in the general population of the same age. UK Biobank is not representative of the sampling population; there is evidence of a "healthy volunteer" selection bias. Nonetheless, valid assessment of exposure-disease relationships may be widely generalizable and does not require participants to be representative of the population at large.