Loosen SH, Kostev K, Luedde M, Luedde T, Roderburg C. Low blood levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are positively associated with cancer.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2021;
148:3039-3046. [PMID:
34897572 PMCID:
PMC9508001 DOI:
10.1007/s00432-021-03867-1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing body of evidence suggesting a decisive involvement of the human lipid metabolism in cancer development. However, clinical data on the association between blood triglyceride or cholesterol levels including the cholesterol transporters high-density and low-density lipoproteins (LDL, HDL) and cancer incidence have remained inconclusive. Here, we investigated the association between blood triglyceride as well as total, LDL and HDL cholesterol levels and cancer among outpatients from Germany.
Methods
61,936 patients with available blood lipid values were identified from the IQVIA Disease Analyzer database and followed up between 2005 and 2019. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to study the association between lipid values and cancer.
Results
The probability of cancer was significantly lower among patients with elevated total cholesterol concentrations and higher in patients with decreased HDL serum levels. In contrast, serum concentrations of LDL and triglycerides had no impact on cancer risk. In cancer site-stratified analyses, we observed a trend towards higher rates of cancers from digestive organs, breast, skin cancer, urinary tract and cancers from lymphoid and hematopoietic tissue in patients with HDL values < 35 mg/dl, while a negative association between total cholesterol > 250 mg/dl and respiratory organ as well as urinary tract cancers was observed.
Conclusion
Our data strongly support the hypothesis that serum-specific lipid profiles are positively associated with cancer.
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