Abstract
Objective
We investigated the associations of circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) with cancer risk.
Methods
We examined the associations of CRP and IL-6 with incident cancer in two prospective cohorts, the British Women’s Heart and Health Study (4,286 women aged 60–80) and the Caerphilly Cohort (2,398 men aged 45–59) using Cox regression and pooled our findings with previous prospective studies’ in fixed and random effects meta-analyses.
Results
CRP and IL-6 were associated with some incident cancers in our cohorts, but the numbers of cancer cases were small. In our meta-analyses elevated CRP was associated with an increased overall risk of cancer (random effects estimate (RE): 1.10, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.18) and lung cancer (RE: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.61). Its associations with colorectal (RE: 1.09, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.21) and breast cancer risks (RE: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.26) were weaker. CRP appeared unrelated to prostate cancer risk (RE: 1.00 0.88, 1.13). IL-6 was associated with increased lung and breast cancer risks and decreased prostate cancer risk, and was unrelated to colorectal cancer risk.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest an etiological role for CRP and IL-6 in some cancers. Further large prospective and genetic studies would help to better understand this role.
We investigated the associations of circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) with cancer risk.
Methods
We examined the associations of CRP and IL-6 with incident cancer in two prospective cohorts, the British Women’s Heart and Health Study (4,286 women aged 60–80) and the Caerphilly Cohort (2,398 men aged 45–59) using Cox regression and pooled our findings with previous prospective studies’ in fixed and random effects meta-analyses.
Results
CRP and IL-6 were associated with some incident cancers in our cohorts, but the numbers of cancer cases were small. In our meta-analyses elevated CRP was associated with an increased overall risk of cancer (random effects estimate (RE): 1.10, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.18) and lung cancer (RE: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.61). Its associations with colorectal (RE: 1.09, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.21) and breast cancer risks (RE: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.26) were weaker. CRP appeared unrelated to prostate cancer risk (RE: 1.00 0.88, 1.13). IL-6 was associated with increased lung and breast cancer risks and decreased prostate cancer risk, and was unrelated to colorectal cancer risk.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest an etiological role for CRP and IL-6 in some cancers. Further large prospective and genetic studies would help to better understand this role.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 15-26 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Cancer Causes & Control: an international journal of studies of cancer in human populations |
| Volume | 20 |
| Early online date | 15 Aug 2008 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2009 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research
