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Associations Between Prediagnostic Concentrations of Circulating Sex Steroid Hormones and Esophageal/Gastric Cardia Adenocarcinoma Among Men.

About this Publication
Title
Associations Between Prediagnostic Concentrations of Circulating Sex Steroid Hormones and Esophageal/Gastric Cardia Adenocarcinoma Among Men.
Pubmed ID
29788475 (View this publication on the PubMed website)
Publication
J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2018 May
Authors
Petrick JL, Hyland PL, Caron P, Falk RT, Pfeiffer RM, Dawsey SM, Abnet CC, Taylor PR, Weinstein SJ, Albanes D, Freedman ND, Gapstur SM, Bradwin G, Guillemette C, Campbell PT, Cook MB
Affiliations
  • Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD.
  • Pharmacogenomics Laboratory, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université Laval de Québec (CHU de Québec) Research Center and Faculty of Pharmacy, Laval University, Québec, Canada.
  • Epidemiology Research Program, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA.
  • Clinical and Epidemiologic Research Laboratory, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA.
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) are characterized by a strong male predominance. Concentrations of sex steroid hormones have been hypothesized to explain this sex disparity. However, no prospective population-based study has examined sex steroid hormones in relation to EA/GCA risk. Thus, we investigated whether prediagnostic circulating sex steroid hormone concentrations were associated with EA/GCA in a nested case-control study drawn from participants in three prospective cohort studies.

METHODS: Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, we quantitated sex steroid hormones and sex hormone binding globulin, respectively, in serum from 259 EA/GCA male case participants and 259 matched male control participants from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study, and Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between circulating hormones and EA/GCA risk. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS: Higher concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were associated with a 38% decreased risk of EA/GCA (OR per unit increase in log2 DHEA = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.47 to 0.82, Ptrend = .001). Higher estradiol concentrations were associated with a 34% reduced risk of EA/GCA (OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.45 to 0.98, Ptrend = .05), and the association with free estradiol was similar. No other associations between baseline hormone concentrations and future EA/GCA risk were observed.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence that higher concentrations of circulating DHEA, estradiol, and free estradiol may be associated with lower risks of EA/GCA in men.

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