Circulating plasma fatty acids and risk of pancreatic cancer: Results from the Golestan Cohort Study

Neda Ghamarzad Shishavan; Ashraf Mohamadkhani; Sadaf Ghajarieh Sepanlou; Sahar Masoudi; Maryam Sharafkhah; Hossein Poustchi; Azita Hekmatdoost; Akram Pourshams

doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2020.09.002

Circulating plasma fatty acids and risk of pancreatic cancer: Results from the Golestan Cohort Study

Clin Nutr. 2021 Apr;40(4):1897-1904. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.09.002. Epub 2020 Sep 15.

Authors

Neda Ghamarzad Shishavan¹, Ashraf Mohamadkhani², Sadaf Ghajarieh Sepanlou¹, Sahar Masoudi¹, Maryam Sharafkhah¹, Hossein Poustchi¹, Azita Hekmatdoost³, Akram Pourshams⁴

Affiliations

¹ Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Departments of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Nutrition and Food Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: a_hekmat2000@yahoo.com.
⁴ Digestive Oncology Research Center, Digestive Disease Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: akrampourshams@gmail.com.

PMID: 33023764
DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.09.002

Abstract

Background & aims: Pancreatic cancer (PC) with a dismal prognosis is considered as a fatal malignancy, attracting the scientists' attention to study its causes and pathogenesis pathways. Given the lack of enough evidence and conflicting findings about the association of PC risk with plasma fatty acids, we aimed to explore the associations of circulating plasma fatty acids with the risk of PC in a cohort study.

Methods: From about 50,000 subjects participated in this cohort study in 2004-2008, fifty incident cases of PC were recruited and 150 controls matched by age, sex and residence place (urban/rural) were randomly selected. The plasma fatty acids composition was measured by gas chromatography with Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) in plasma samples collected at the baseline of cohort study. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to estimate OR (with 95% CI) of PC risk associated with plasma levels of fatty acids considering known potential risk factors for PC.

Results: Our findings showed that total saturated fatty acids and total industrial trans fats were not associated with the risk of PC; whereas, statistically significant inverse associations were found between high plasma levels of total mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), omega-3 and ruminant trans fatty acids with the risk of PC [OR_Q1-Q4 = 0.31 (0.11-0.89), OR _Q2-Q1 = 0.30 (0.10-0.91) and OR_Q2-Q1 = 0.15 (0.04-0.49), respectively]. Omega-6 fatty acids especially high plasma levels of Arachidonic acid was positively associated with the risk of PC [OR_Q1-Q3 = 11.07 (3.50-35.02)].

Conclusion: Except for the plasma circulating whole fats, the levels of different classes of fats may significantly change pancreatic cancer susceptibility. Unsaturated fatty acids including omega-3-PUFA and MUFA are considered as protective biomarkers in PC prevention. On the contrary, omega-6-fatty acids are positively associated with the risk of PC.

Keywords: Biomarker; Fatty acid; Golestan cohort study; Metabolomics; Pancreatic cancer.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomarkers / blood
Case-Control Studies
Cohort Studies
Fatty Acids / blood*
Female
Humans
Iran / epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Pancreatic Neoplasms / blood*
Pancreatic Neoplasms / epidemiology*
Risk Assessment

Substances

Biomarkers
Fatty Acids