Do cholesterol levels and continuity of statin use affect colorectal cancer incidence in older adults under 75 years of age?

Lipids, cholesterols, statins and liver cancer: a Mendelian randomization study

Aim

To investigate the causal relationship of serum lipid indicators and lipid-lowering drugs with the risk of liver cancer using Mendelian randomization study.

Methods

A two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) study was performed to investigate the causal relationship between serum levels of lipid indicators and liver cancer, including low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), Apolipoprotein B (ApoB), and Apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1).Furthermore, instrumental variable weighted regression (IVW) and summary data-based MR (SMR) analyses were performed to investigate the causal effects of lipid-lowering drugs, including statins and PCSK9 inhibitors, on the risk of liver cancer.

Results

Serum LDL-c and serum TC levels showed negatively associated with liver cancer (n = 22 SNPs, OR = 0.363, 95% CI = 0.231 - 0.570; p = 1.070E-5) (n = 83 SNPs; OR = 0.627, 95% CI = 0.413-0.952; p = 0.028). However, serum levels of TG, HDL-c, and ApoA1 did not show any significant correlation with liver cancer. In the drug target MR (DMR) analyses, HMGCR-mediated level of LDL-c showed an inverse relationship with the risk of liver cancer in the IVW-MR analysis (n = 5 SNPs, OR = 0.201, 95% CI = 0.064 - 0.631; p = 5.95E-03) and SMR analysis (n = 20 SNPs, OR = 0.245, 95% CI = 0.065 - 0.926; p = 0.038) However, PCSK9 did not show any significant association with liver cancer based on both the IVW-MR and SMR analyses.

Conclusion

Our results demonstrated that reduced levels of LDL-c and TC were associated with an increased risk of liver cancer. Furthermore, lipid-lowering drugs targeting HMGCR such as statins were associated with increased risk of liver cancer.

Can statins lessen the burden of virus mediated cancers?

BACKGROUND

Oncogenic viruses, including hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein Barr virus (EBV), and Kaposi Sarcoma Herpes virus (KSHV) contribute to a significant proportion of the world's cancers. Given the sizeable burden of virus mediated cancers, development of strategies to prevent and/or treat these cancers is critical. While large population studies suggest that treatment with hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors, commonly known as statins, may reduce the risk of many cancer types including HBV/HCV related hepatocellular carcinoma, few studies have specifically evaluated the impact of statin use in populations at risk for other types of virus mediated cancers.

MAIN BODY

Studies of populations with HBV and HCV suggest a protective, dose-dependent effect of statins on hepatocellular carcinoma risk and support the theory that statins may offer clinical benefit if used as chemoprophylactic agents to reduce liver cancer incidence. However, no population level data exists describing the impact of statins on populations with other oncogenic viral infections, such as HPV, EBV, and KSHV.

CONCLUSION

Further study of statin use in diverse, global populations with or at high risk for oncogenic viral infections is essential to determine the impact of statin therapy on virus mediated cancer risk.

Hypercholesterolemia in Cancer and in Anorexia Nervosa: A Hypothesis for a Crosstalk

The relationship between cholesterol and cancer has been widely demonstrated. Clinical studies have shown changes in blood cholesterol levels in cancer patients. In parallel, basic research studies have shown that cholesterol is involved in the mechanisms of onset and progression of the disease. On the other hand, anorexic patients have high cholesterol levels and a high susceptibility to cancer. In this review, we first present a brief background on the relations among nutrition, eating disorders and cancer. Using several notable examples, we then illustrate the changes in cholesterol in cancer and in anorexia nervosa, providing evidence for their important relationship. Finally, we show a new possible link between cholesterol disorder in cancer and in anorexia nervosa.

Untargeted GC-MS-Based Metabolomics for Early Detection of Colorectal Cancer

BACKGROUND

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant gastrointestinal cancers in the world with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 68%. Although researchers accumulated many scientific studies, its pathogenesis remains unclear yet. Detecting and removing these malignant polyps promptly is the most effective method in CRC prevention. Therefore, the analysis and disposal of malignant polyps is conducive to preventing CRC.

METHODS

In the study, metabolic profiling as well as diagnostic biomarkers for CRC was investigated using untargeted GC-MS-based metabolomics methods to explore the intervention approaches. In order to better characterize the variations of tissue and serum metabolic profiles, orthogonal partial least-square discriminant analysis was carried out to further identify significant features. The key differences in tR-m/z pairs were screened by the S-plot and VIP value from OPLS-DA. Identified potential biomarkers were leading in the KEGG in finding interactions, which show the relationships among these signal pathways.

RESULTS

Finally, 17 tissue and 13 serum candidate ions were selected based on their corresponding retention time, p-value, m/z, and VIP value. Simultaneously, the most influential pathways contributing to CRC were inositol phosphate metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis, phosphatidylinositol signaling system, and linoleic acid metabolism.

CONCLUSIONS

The preliminary results suggest that the GC-MS-based method coupled with the pattern recognition method and understanding these cancer-specific alterations could make it possible to detect CRC early and aid in the development of additional treatments for the disease, leading to improvements in CRC patients' quality of life.