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Prostate cancer, blood lipids share genetic links

Date:
April 30, 2014
Source:
University of California, San Diego Health Sciences
Summary:
A new study significantly refines the association between prostate cancer and blood lipids, highlighting genetic risk factors associated with low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides as key players and identifying 17 related gene loci that make risk contributions to levels of these blood lipids and to prostate cancer.
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Numerous studies have suggested a relationship between cardiovascular disease risk factors and prostate cancer. A new study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Norway, significantly refines the association, highlighting genetic risk factors associated with low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides as key players and identifying 17 related gene loci that make risk contributions to levels of these blood lipids and to prostate cancer.

The findings, published in the April 30, 2014 online issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology, provide new insights into the pathobiology of prostate cancer and may point to novel therapies to lower blood lipid levels that might help prevent prostate cancer -- the second most common cause of cancer death among American men.

The research team, headed by senior authors Anders M. Dale, PhD, professor in the departments of radiology, neurosciences and psychiatry at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, and Ole Andreassen, professor of psychiatry at Oslo University, applied a genetic epidemiology method to assess statistics from multiple genome-wide association studies, looking for genetic overlap between the phenotypes for prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. In the case of the latter, they specifically investigated triglycerides, LDL and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, waist-hip ratio and type 2 diabetes.

The researchers also examined enrichment of single nucleotide polymorphisms -- bits of DNA that vary among individuals -- associated with prostate cancer and CVD risk.

LDL cholesterol and triglycerides displayed a strong association with prostate cancer.

"It's fair to say that risk relationships of various sorts have been proposed between prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease, although not comorbidity per se," said co-author Ian G. Mills, PhD, of the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital in Norway. "There is a lack of consistency across cohorts, however, in size and direction of effects, depending on cardiovascular risk factor considered. The significant risk association with LDL cholesterol and triglycerides versus the other traits at a genetic level was novel and unexpected."

Mills said the identification of 17 pleiotropic loci -- specific sites in the genome which may affect the expression of a number of genes and influence a range of biological pathways, in this case affecting both prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease risk -- was a key finding. He said the loci provide clues to the common regulatory elements that affect expression of disease-related genes. They may be incorporated into future disease risk test panels. And they might, ultimately, help shape "genetically stratified dietary or chemoprevention studies repurposing clinically approved drugs that regulate blood lipid levels" to alter the risk of developing prostate cancer, he said.


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of California, San Diego Health Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. O. A. Andreassen, V. Zuber, W. K. Thompson, A. J. Schork, F. Bettella, S. Djurovic, R. S. Desikan, I. G. Mills, A. M. Dale. Shared common variants in prostate cancer and blood lipids. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2014; DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyu090

Cite This Page:

University of California, San Diego Health Sciences. "Prostate cancer, blood lipids share genetic links." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 April 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140430132820.htm>.
University of California, San Diego Health Sciences. (2014, April 30). Prostate cancer, blood lipids share genetic links. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 19, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140430132820.htm
University of California, San Diego Health Sciences. "Prostate cancer, blood lipids share genetic links." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140430132820.htm (accessed March 19, 2024).

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