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People at high genetic risk for colorectal cancer benefit more from lifestyle changes

Date:
May 15, 2021
Source:
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Summary:
People with a high polygenic risk score for colorectal cancer could benefit more at preventing the disease by leading healthy lifestyles than those at lower genetic risk, according to a new study.
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People with a high polygenic risk score for colorectal cancer could benefit more at preventing the disease by leading healthy lifestyles than those at lower genetic risk, according to a study by Vanderbilt researchers published in the April issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Analyzing data from participants in the UK Biobank, the researchers estimated that maintaining a healthy lifestyle was associated with a nearly 40% reduction in colorectal cancer risk among those with a high genetic risk of developing the disease. The percentage dropped to only about 25% among people at a low genetic risk for this cancer. People with a high genetic risk and an unhealthy lifestyle were more than three times as likely to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer than those with a low genetic risk and a healthy lifestyle.

"Results from this study could be useful to design personalized prevention strategies for colorectal cancer prevention," said Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, MPH, Anne Potter Wilson Professor of Medicine and associate director for Population Sciences Research at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC).

In the analysis, lifestyle scores of unhealthy, intermediate and healthy were determined according to waist-to-hip ratio, physical activity, sedentary time, processed and red meat intake, vegetable and fruit intake, alcohol consumption and tobacco use. Polygenic risk scores are used to measure genetic susceptibility to colorectal cancer. Vanderbilt researchers constructed polygenic risk scores using genetic variants associated with colorectal cancer risk identified in recent large genetic studies including more than 120,000 study participants. They also constructed polygenetic risk scores for several other common cancers in research that was published last year in JNCI Cancer Spectrum.

The recently published study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is one of the few that quantifies potential interactions of overall lifestyle with genetic susceptibility to colorectal cancer.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Original written by Tom Wilemon. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Jungyoon Choi, Guochong Jia, Wanqing Wen, Xiao-Ou Shu, Wei Zheng. Healthy lifestyles, genetic modifiers, and colorectal cancer risk: a prospective cohort study in the UK Biobank. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2021; 113 (4): 810 DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa404

Cite This Page:

Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "People at high genetic risk for colorectal cancer benefit more from lifestyle changes." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 May 2021. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210515091110.htm>.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (2021, May 15). People at high genetic risk for colorectal cancer benefit more from lifestyle changes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210515091110.htm
Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "People at high genetic risk for colorectal cancer benefit more from lifestyle changes." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210515091110.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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