#IDIBELLfellows: Mareike Gröninger

Blood concentrations of trace elements and pancreatic cancer risk in the EPIC cohort
– Nutrition and Cancer group
Trace elements are minerals that are found in small quantities in the body. Exposure to trace elements has previously been hypothesized to play a role in pancreatic cancer etiology. We investigated the associations between pre-diagnostic blood trace element concentrations and pancreatic cancer risk in a nested case-control study within the large European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Blood levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel, selenium and zinc were measured at baseline in a total of 412 pancreatic cancer cases and 868 age- and center-matched controls using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted for quartiles of concentration of each trace element separately adjusting for age at recruitment, sex and country.
We observed a statistically significant increased risk association of pancreatic cancer with higher cadmium concentrations (OR highest vs. lowest quartile 1.54, 95% CI 1.10-2.17). In contrast, higher selenium concentrations were significantly associated with a lower risk of pancreatic cancer (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.46-0.92). No significant relationship between levels of arsenic (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.62-1.25), lead (OR 1.22, 95% CI 0.84-1.77), nickel (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.57–1.29) or zinc (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.59-1.17), and pancreatic cancer was observed. In subgroup analysis of BMI and smoking status, results remained significant for selenium among participants with a BMI ≥ 25, and among those ever having smoked. Additionally, higher zinc concentrations were negatively associated with pancreatic cancer among never smokers (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.28-0.86).
Our results suggest a potential role of cadmium and selenium, and of zinc among never smokers, in pancreatic cancer etiology. Considering the observational nature of our study, the observed significant associations require further validation in future studies.