Etiologic clues from the similarity of histology-specific trends in esophageal and lung cancers

Family history of cancer and gastroesophageal disorders and risk of esophageal and gastric adenocarcinomas: a case-control study

Background

There is a paucity of data on familial risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma, gastric cardia adenocarcinoma and distal gastric adenocarcinoma from population-based studies.

Methods

A population-based case–control study of newly diagnosed gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma was conducted in Los Angeles County. This analysis included data of case-patients whom we were able to interview directly (147 patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma, 182 with gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, and 285 with distal gastric adenocarcinoma) and 1,309 control participants. Multivariate polytomous logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the three cancer types.

Results

Risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma was positively associated with a family history of prostate cancer (OR = 2.84; 95% CI = 1.50-5.36) and a family history of hiatal hernia (OR = 2.04; 95% CI = 1.12-3.71). Risk of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma was strongly associated with a family history of esophageal cancer (OR = 5.18; 95% CI = 1.23-21.79) and a family history of hiatal hernia (OR = 2.31; 95% CI = 1.37-3.91). Risk of distal gastric adenocarcinoma was positively associated with a family history of gastric cancer (OR = 2.15; 95% CI = 1.18-3.91), particularly early-onset (before age 50) gastric cancer (OR = 2.82; 95% CI = 1.11-7.15).

Conclusions

This study provides evidence that family history of hiatal hernia is a risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma and that cancer in specific sites is associated with risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, and distal gastric adenocarcinoma. It is important to determine the extent to which shared environmental and genetic factors explain these familial associations.

Diabetes and risk of esophageal and gastric adenocarcinomas

Diabetes has been consistently associated with an increased risk of liver, pancreas and endometrial cancer and has been implicated as a risk factor for esophageal and gastric cancers, although this association has been less well studied. We sought to determine the role of diabetes in the etiology of esophageal, gastric cardia and distal gastric adenocarcinomas (DGAs). This analysis included patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) (n = 209), gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) (n = 257) and DGA (n = 382), and 1,309 control participants from a population-based case-control study conducted in Los Angeles County. The study included non-Hispanic whites, African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans. The association of diabetes with the three tumor types was estimated using polytomous logistic regression. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. Nine percent of control participants and 13% of the case patients reported a history of diabetes. After adjustment for age, gender, race, birthplace, education, cigarette smoking status and body mass index, diabetes was associated with an increased risk of EA (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 0.94-2.32; p = 0.089) and DGA (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.01-2.15; p = 0.045), but was not associated with risk of GCA (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.59-1.55; p = 0.87). However, the association between diabetes and risk of DGA was statistically significant only among patients for whom we interviewed their next of kin. Our study further investigated the association between diabetes and adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and distal stomach.

Cigarette smoking and adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and esophagogastric junction: a pooled analysis from the international BEACON consortium

BACKGROUND

Previous studies that showed an association between smoking and adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and esophagogastric junction were limited in their ability to assess differences by tumor site, sex, dose-response, and duration of cigarette smoking cessation.

METHODS

We used primary data from 10 population-based case-control studies and two cohort studies from the Barrett's Esophagus and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium. Analyses were restricted to white non-Hispanic men and women. Patients were classified as having esophageal adenocarcinoma (n = 1540), esophagogastric junctional adenocarcinoma (n = 1450), or a combination of both (all adenocarcinoma; n = 2990). Control subjects (n = 9453) were population based. Associations between pack-years of cigarette smoking and risks of adenocarcinomas were assessed, as well as their potential modification by sex and duration of smoking cessation. Study-specific odds ratios (ORs) estimated using multivariable logistic regression models, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, education, and gastroesophageal reflux, were pooled using a meta-analytic methodology to generate summary odds ratios. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS

The summary odds ratios demonstrated strong associations between cigarette smoking and esophageal adenocarcinoma (OR = 1.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.64 to 2.34), esophagogastric junctional adenocarcinoma (OR = 2.18, 95% CI = 1.84 to 2.58), and all adenocarcinoma (OR = 2.08, 95% CI = 1.83 to 2.37). In addition, there was a strong dose-response association between pack-years of cigarette smoking and each outcome (P < .001). Compared with current smokers, longer smoking cessation was associated with a decreased risk of all adenocarcinoma after adjusting for pack-years (<10 years of smoking cessation: OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.60 to 1.13; and > or =10 years of smoking cessation: OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.56 to 0.89). Sex-specific summary odds ratios were similar.

CONCLUSIONS

Cigarette smoking is associated with increased risks of adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and esophagogastric junction in white men and women; compared with current smoking, smoking cessation was associated with reduced risks.

Post-puff respiration measures on smokers of different tar yield cigarettes

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different tar yield cigarette brands on the post-puff inhalation/exhalation depth and duration for established smokers of the brands. The study was conducted with 74 established smokers of 1-17 mg Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tar products. The subjects were participating in a five-day inpatient clinical biomarker study during which time they were allowed to smoke their own brand of cigarette whenever they wished. On two separate days, the subjects' breathing pattern was measured using respiratory inductive plethysmography while they smoked one cigarette. This enabled the measurement of the post-puff inhalation volume, exhalation volume, inhalation duration, and exhalation duration for each subject after each puff on two of their own brand of cigarettes. The subjects were grouped according to the FTC tar yield of their product: 1-3 mg; 4-6 mg; 7-13 mg; 14 + mg. The post-puff inhalation volume for the 4-6 mg group was significantly lower than both the 7-13 mg and 14+ mg groups, and the 4-6 mg group exhalation volume was significantly lower than the 14+ mg group (p < 0.05). No other differences were found at the 95% confidence level. When volumes were normalized to resting tidal volume (tidal ratio), there were no differences between the groups for any of the respiratory measures. No significant slope was found for correlations with FTC tar yield for inhalation volume (p = 0.11, mean = 833 mL, R = 0.19), inhalation tidal ratio (p = 0.93, mean = 1.73, R = -0.01) or lung exposure time (p = 0.92, mean = 4.1 s, R = -0.01).

Gastroesophageal reflux disease and non-small cell lung cancer. Results of a pilot study

The sharp rise in the frequency of adenocarcinoma and relative decrease of squamous cell carcinoma of the respiratory and digestive systems, raises suspicion of a common element in their carcinogenetic cascade, which could result in similar trends in cell-type distribution changes of esophageal and lung cancers. The possible role of chemical irritation caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients was investigated. There was no significant difference between the adenocarcinoma and the squamous cell carcinoma groups, neither in the composite DeMeester scores nor in any of the separate parameters of the complex score investigated. However, the ratio of detected gastroesophageal reflux cases was considerably higher than in the average population. This factor may be one element of a multifactorial cancer promotion.

Marijuana use and the risk of lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancers: results of a population-based case-control study

BACKGROUND

Despite several lines of evidence suggesting the biological plausibility of marijuana being carcinogenic, epidemiologic findings are inconsistent. We conducted a population-based case-control study of the association between marijuana use and the risk of lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancers in Los Angeles.

METHODS

Our study included 1,212 incident cancer cases and 1,040 cancer-free controls matched to cases on age, gender, and neighborhood. Subjects were interviewed with a standardized questionnaire. The cumulative use of marijuana was expressed in joint-years, where 1 joint-year is equivalent to smoking one joint per day for 1 year.

RESULTS

Although using marijuana for > or =30 joint-years was positively associated in the crude analyses with each cancer type (except pharyngeal cancer), no positive associations were observed when adjusting for several confounders including cigarette smoking. The adjusted odds ratio estimate (and 95% confidence limits) for > or =60 versus 0 joint-years was 1.1 (0.56, 2.1) for oral cancer, 0.84 (0.28, 2.5) for laryngeal cancer, and 0.62 (0.32, 1.2) for lung cancer; the adjusted odds ratio estimate for > or =30 versus 0 joint-years was 0.57 (0.20, 1.6) for pharyngeal cancer, and 0.53 (0.22, 1.3) for esophageal cancer. No association was consistently monotonic across exposure categories, and restriction to subjects who never smoked cigarettes yielded similar findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results may have been affected by selection bias or error in measuring lifetime exposure and confounder histories; but they suggest that the association of these cancers with marijuana, even long-term or heavy use, is not strong and may be below practically detectable limits.