Effect of glycemic control on the risk of pancreatic cancer: A nationwide cohort study

Aspirin is associated with lower risk of pancreatic cancer and cancer-related mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have higher pancreatic cancer (PC) risk. While aspirin has chemopreventive effects on digestive cancers, its effect on PC among patients with T2DM is unclear.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study identified newly diagnosed adult patients with T2DM in Hong Kong between 2001 and 2015 from a territory-wide healthcare registry. Exclusion criteria were history of PC, pancreatic cyst, IgG4 disease, or pancreatectomy. To address reverse causality between PC and T2DM, we excluded patients with PC diagnosed within 1 year of T2DM. We also excluded patients with less than 1 year of observation. Primary outcome was PC, and secondary outcomes were PC-related and all-cause mortality. Aspirin use was treated as time-varying variable (≥180 day-use/year) to address immortal-time bias, and multivariable Cox regression model was employed to derive adjusted HR (aHR). Propensity-score (PS) matching was used as secondary analysis.

RESULTS

Among 343 966 newly diagnosed patients with T2DM (median follow-up: 10.5 years; IQR: 7.7-14.5 years), 1224 (0.36%) developed PC. There were 51 151 (14.9%) deaths from any cause, and 787 (0.2%) died from PC. Aspirin use was associated with lower PC risk in both time-dependent (aHR: 0.58; 95% CI 0.49 to 0.69) and PS matching analysis (aHR: 0.61; 95% CI 0.48 to 0.77). An inverse relationship was observed with increasing dose and duration of aspirin use (P trend<0.001). Aspirin was also associated with a lower risk of PC-related mortality (aHR: 0.43; 95% CI 0.34 to 0.53) and all-cause mortality (aHR: 0.78; 95% CI 0.76 to 0.80).

CONCLUSION

Aspirin use may be an oncopreventive strategy to reduce PC risk in patients with T2DM. Further studies are warranted to validate the study findings.

Glycemic control and cancer outcomes in oncologic patients with diabetes: an Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), Italian Association of Medical Diabetologists (AMD), Italian Society of Diabetology (SID), Italian Society of Endocrinology (SIE), Italian Society of Pharmacology (SIF) multidisciplinary critical view

BACKGROUND

 Increasing evidence suggests that diabetes increases the risk of developing different types of cancer. Hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and chronic inflammation, characteristic of diabetes, could represent possible mechanisms involved in cancer development in diabetic patients. At the same time, cancer increases the risk of developing new-onset diabetes, mainly caused by the use of specific anticancer therapies. Of note, diabetes has been associated with a ∼10% increase in mortality for all cancers in comparison with subjects who did not have diabetes. Diabetes is associated with a worse prognosis in patients with cancer, and more recent findings suggest a key role for poor glycemic control in this regard. Nevertheless, the association between glycemic control and cancer outcomes in oncologic patients with diabetes remains unsettled and poorly debated.

PURPOSE

 The current review seeks to summarize the available evidence on the effect of glycemic control on cancer outcomes, as well as on the possibility that timely treatment of hyperglycemia and improved glycemic control in patients with cancer and diabetes may favorably affect cancer outcomes.

Obesity, diabetes mellitus, and pancreatic carcinogenesis: Correlations, prevention, and diagnostic implications

The prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus (DM), and pancreatic cancer (PC) has been consistently increasing in the last two decades worldwide. Sharing various influential risk factors in genetics and environmental inducers in pathogenesis, the close correlations of these three diseases have been demonstrated in plenty of clinical studies using multiple parameters among different populations. On the contrary, most measures aimed to manage and treat obesity and DM effectively reduce the risk and prevent PC occurrence, yet certain drugs can inversely promote pancreatic carcinogenesis instead. Most importantly, an elevation of blood glucose with or without a reduction in body weight, along with other potential tools, may provide valuable clues for detecting PC at an early stage in patients with obesity and DM, favoring a timely intervention and prolonging survival. Herein, the epidemiological and etiological correlations among these three diseases and the supporting clinical evidence of their connections are first summarized to favor a better and more thorough understanding of obesity- and DM-related pancreatic carcinogenesis. After comparing the distinct impacts of different weight-lowering and anti-diabetic treatments on the risk of PC, the possible diagnostic implications of hyperglycemia and weight loss in PC screening are also addressed in detail.

Clinical significance of tumor markers in patients with type 2 diabetes: a retrospective observational study

Aim

To cross-sectionally and longitudinally investigate the association between tumor markers (Cancer embryonic antigen (CEA) Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9)) and malignancies in type 2 diabetes patients without evidence of malignancy.

Materials and Methods

The study included 707 patients admitted for the treatment of diabetes from 1 August 2010 to 1 September 2018. Serum CEA and CA19-9 levels were measured for screening of malignancies at admission. Abdominal ultrasonography, computed tomography, and endoscopy were performed for close examination. The percentage of patients diagnosed with malignancy was calculated, and among those without malignancy, the incidence of malignancies was examined after discharge.

Results

A total of 26 patients (3.7%) were newly diagnosed with malignancy during hospitalization. The optimal cut-off value of CEA and CA19-9 by receiver operating characteristic analysis was 5.0 ng/mL and 75 U/mL, and their positive predictive values (PPV) were 8.7% and 22.5%, respectively. The addition of CA19-9 to age, smoking status, body mass index, and glycated hemoglobin significantly improved classification performance for malignancy using net reclassification improvement (0.682, 95% CI 0.256-1.107) and integrated discrimination improvement (0.150, 95% CI 0.007-0.294). Among 681 patients without malignancies during hospitalization, 30 patients (4.4%) developed malignancies during an average follow-up of 3.9 years. CA19-9 (hazard ratio: 1.005, 95% CI: 1.003-1.008) was associated with the development of malignancies.

Conclusions

PPV of serum CEA and CA19-9 for detecting malignancy was high in type 2 diabetes patients with poor glycemic control. Measuring CA19-9 was found to be valuable to cross-sectionally and longitudinally detect malignancies.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13340-022-00594-x.

Pancreatic cancer incidence and mortality trends: a population-based study

Objectives To analyze trends in pancreatic cancer incidence and mortality in Latin American countries. Methods An ecological study with incidence data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and mortality data from the World Health Organization. The trend of incidence by Joinpoint regression, the variation of the annual average and the 95% confidence interval were analyzed. Results There were increasing trends in incidence in Brazil, in males, aged 40-59 years, and reduction in Costa Rica. In females, there was stability in all age groups. The mortality rates increased in the elderly in Brazil (AAPC: 1.09%; 95% CI: 0.76; 1.42), Peru (AAPC: 1.76%; 95% CI: 0.36; 3.17) and El Salvador (AAPC: 2.88%; 95% CI: 0.38; 5.43), while in Mexico, there was a reduction. In females, this rate increased in Brazil (AAPC: 1.38%; 95% CI: 1.07; 1.69), Peru (AAPC: 2.25%; 95% CI: 0.68; 3.85), Chile (AAPC: 3.62%; 95% CI:1.96; 5.31), Nicaragua (AAPC: 2.51%; 95% CI: 0.36; 4.71) and Paraguay (AAPC: 1.17%; 95% CI: 0.37; 1.98) and a downward trend was observed in Colombia and Ecuador. Conclusions Pancreatic cancer had a higher incidence in the elderly population of both sexes and an increase of the mortality trend in females was noted.

Lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio combined with CA19-9 for predicting postoperative recurrence of colorectal cancer in patients with diabetes

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the significance of lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) combined with carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 for predicting postoperative recurrence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with type II diabetes.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective analysis of 106 postoperative patients with stage II-III CRC and with type II diabetes. Their clinical indexes such as LMR and CA19-9 were collected, and the patients were followed up for 5 years.

RESULTS

The CA19-9 level was 119.7 U/ml at baseline in the relapsed group, while this was 24.81 U/ml in non-relapsed group (p = 0.001). On the contrary, the LMR level was 5.10 and 2.57 for non-relapsed and relapsed group (p < 0.001), respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival curves stratified by CA19-9 and LMR suggested that patients with lower CA19-9 had higher survival probability (p < 0.001), while patients with high LMR level had higher survival probability (p < 0.001). The multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis with CA19-9 and LMR indicated that although the baseline CA19-9 is significantly associated with increasing risk of disease recurrence, the HR (HR = 1.0, 95% CI 1.00-1.01) was small and close to 1, whereas the high baseline LMR (HR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.32-0.61) was associated with decrease in disease recurrence. Model with continuous CA19-9 and LMR was able to better predict (AUC 73.17%) the disease recurrence.

CONCLUSION

LMR combined with CA19-9 may become a new index for predicting postoperative recurrence of CRC in patients with diabetes.

Beneficial Diets and Pancreatic Cancer: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Practice

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a malignant tumor with high invasiveness, easy metastatic ability, and chemoresistance. Patients with PC have an extremely low survival rate due to the difficulty in early diagnosis. It is estimated that nearly 90% of PC cases are caused by environmental risk factors. Approximately 50% of PC cases are induced by an unhealthy diet, which can be avoided. Given this large attribution to diet, numerous studies have assessed the relationship between various dietary factors and PC. This article reviews three beneficial diets: a ketogenic diet (KD), a Mediterranean diet (MD), and a low-sugar diet. Their composition and impact mechanism are summarized and discussed. The associations between these three diets and PC were analyzed, and we aimed to provide more help and new insights for the prevention and treatment of PC.

Susceptibility loci for pancreatic cancer in the Brazilian population

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) is a very aggressive cancer and has one of the poorest prognoses. Usually, the diagnosis is late and resistant to conventional treatment. Environmental and genetic factors contribute to the etiology, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes and obesity. Somatic mutation in pancreatic cancer cells are known and SNP profile by GWAS could access novel genetic risk factors for this disease in different population context. Here we describe a SNP panel for Brazilian pancreatic cancer, together with clinical and epidemiological data.

METHODS

78 pancreatic adenocarcinoma and 256 non-pancreatic cancer subjects had 25 SNPs genotyped by real-time PCR. Unconditional logistic regression methods were used to assess the main effects on PA risk, using allelic, co-dominant and dominant inheritance models.

RESULTS

9 SNPs were nominally associated with pancreatic adenocarcinoma risk, with 5 of the minor alleles conferring protective effect while 4 related as risk factor. In epidemiological and clinical data, tobacco smoking, diabetes and pancreatitis history were significantly related to pancreatic adenocarcinoma risk. Polygenic risk scores computed using the SNPs in the study showed strong associations with PA risk.

CONCLUSION

We could assess for the first time some SNPs related with PA in Brazilian populations, a result that could be used for genetic screening in risk population such as familial pancreatic cancer, smokers, alcohol users and diabetes patients.

Pancreatic Cancer Exposome Profile to Aid Early Detection and Inform Prevention Strategies

Pancreatic cancer (PCa) is associated with a poor prognosis and high mortality rate. The causes of PCa are not fully elucidated yet, although certain exposome factors have been identified. The exposome is defined as the sum of all environmental factors influencing the occurrence of a disease during a life span. The development of an exposome approach for PCa has the potential to discover new disease-associated factors to better understand the carcinogenesis of PCa and help with early detection strategies. Our systematic review of the literature identified several exposome factors that have been associated with PCa alone and in combination with other exposures. A potential inflammatory signature has been observed among the interaction of several exposures (i.e., smoking, alcohol consumption, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and inflammatory markers) that further increases the incidence and progression of PCa. A large number of exposures have been identified such as genetic, hormonal, microorganism infections and immune responses that warrant further investigation. Future early detection strategies should utilize this information to assess individuals' risk for PCa.

Chronic hyperglycemia as a risk factor in implant therapy

It has been estimated that by 2030, the number of patients with diabetes aged > 64 years will be > 82 million in underdeveloped countries, and > 48 million in developed countries. Chronic hyperglycemia delays wound healing by reducing the expression of growth factors in the wound fluid and re-epithelialization. Impaired wound healing in patients with diabetes has also been associated with inhibition of the production of stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha by several tissues including bone marrow, brain, heart, spleen, and gingivae. Chronic hyperglycemia interferes with the osseointegration of implants by deferring the expression of fibronectin and integrins. Results from experimental studies have shown a significantly higher bone-to-implant contact around implants placed in healthy animals compared with animals with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. Moreover, persistent hyperglycemia plays a role in abnormal differentiation of osteoclasts, thereby making bone tissue more susceptible to resorption. Furthermore, persistent hyperglycemia has also been associated with increased peri-implant soft tissue inflammation (increased peri-implant bleeding on probing and probing depth) and crestal bone loss. Clinical studies have shown that under optimal glycemic control dental implants can show success and survival rates of up to 100% in patients diagnosed with diabetes. Although patients with diabetes can undergo dental implant therapy and can exhibit implant survival similar to those in systemically healthy individuals, the contribution of glycemic control and regular oral hygiene maintenance cannot be disregarded.

Development of a prediction model for pancreatic cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes using logistic regression and artificial neural network models

Objectives

Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) are suggested to have a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer. We used two models to predict pancreatic cancer risk among patients with T2DM.

Methods

The original data used for this investigation were retrieved from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. The prediction models included the available possible risk factors for pancreatic cancer. The data were split into training and test sets: 97.5% of the data were used as the training set and 2.5% of the data were used as the test set. Logistic regression (LR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models were implemented using Python (Version 3.7.0). The F₁, precision, and recall were compared between the LR and the ANN models. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the prediction models were also compared.

Results

The metrics used in this study indicated that the LR model more accurately predicted pancreatic cancer than the ANN model. For the LR model, the area under the ROC curve in the prediction of pancreatic cancer was 0.727, indicating a good fit.

Conclusion

Using this LR model, our results suggested that we could appropriately predict pancreatic cancer risk in patients with T2DM in Taiwan.

Erratum: Medicine, Volume 95, Issue 24: Erratum

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