Relationship between serum levels of insulin-like growth factors and subsequent risk of cancer mortality: Findings from a nested case–control study within the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study

Pham, Truong-Minh; Fujino, Yoshihisa; Nakachi, Kei; Suzuki, Koji; Ito, Yoshinori; Watanabe, Yoshiyuki; Inaba, Yutaka; Tajima, Kazuo; Tamakoshi, Akiko; Yoshimura, Takesumi; for the JACC Study Group,

doi:10.1016/j.canep.2010.03.017

« Previous Next »Cancer Epidemiology
Volume 34, Issue 3 , Pages 279-284, June 2010

Relationship between serum levels of insulin-like growth factors and subsequent risk of cancer mortality: Findings from a nested case–control study within the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study

Truong-Minh Pham
- Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu-shi 807-8555, Japan
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 93 691 7244; fax: +81 93 603 4307.
Yoshihisa Fujino
- Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu-shi 807-8555, Japan
Kei Nakachi
- Department of Radiobiology/Molecular Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Hiroshima, Japan
Koji Suzuki
- Department of Public Health, Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences, Toyoake, Japan
Yoshinori Ito
- Department of Preventive Medicine/Biostatistics and Medical Decision Making, Nagoya University, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
Yoshiyuki Watanabe
- Department of Epidemiology for Community Health and Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyoto, Japan
Yutaka Inaba
- Division of Public Health, Department of Food and Health Sciences, Faculty of Human Life Sciences, Jissen Women's University, Hino, Japan
Kazuo Tajima
- Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan
Akiko Tamakoshi
- Department of Public Health, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Aichi, Japan
Takesumi Yoshimura
- Fukuoka Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan
for the JACC Study Group
- See Acknowledgements for the investigators (name and affiliation) involved in the JACC Study.

Accepted 27 March 2010. published online 14 April 2010.

Abstract

Background: We investigated the association between serum levels of IGF-I, IGF-II, and IGFBP-3 and the subsequent risk of cancer mortality. Methods: Our case–control study examined samples from 914 cancer deaths and their 2739 matched controls within the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study. Blood samples were obtained at the baseline and stored at −80°C until analysis for IGF-I, IGF-II, and IGFBP-3 levels. The conditional logistic model was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for cancer mortality associated with these serum levels. Results: The adjusted ORs for IGF-I quartiles ranged from 0.81 to 0.96 but were not significant. The adjusted ORs and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the second, third, and fourth IGF-II quartiles were 0.64 (95% CI: 0.52–0.79), 0.71 (95% CI: 0.58–0.88), and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.59–0.91), respectively, while those for the respective IGFBP-3 quartiles were 0.77 (95% CI: 0.63–0.96), 0.75 (95% CI: 0.60–0.94), and 0.71 (95% CI: 0.56–0.90). In the model of IGF-I, and IGF-II additionally adjusted for IGFBP-3, the associations of high IGFs levels were similar as observed in the above models, while the association of IGFBP-3 shifted into non-significance after adjusting for IGF-II. Conclusion: An increased level of IGF-II was significantly associated with decreased risk of cancer mortality, whereas the association between IGF-I and all cancer mortality was not significant. The inverse association of IGFBP-3 level with all cancer mortality was affected when adjusting for IGF-II levels, shifting from significant to non-significant. Confirmation of these results from further cohort studies may aid in identifying the potential association between these molecules and the risk of cancer among the general Japanese population.