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Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, folate and vitamin B12 biomarkers among international colorectal cancer patients: a pilot study
- Cornelia M. Ulrich, Adetunji T. Toriola, Erin M. Siegel, Hermann Brenner, Jenny Chang-Claude, Clare Abbenhardt, Jana Kotzmann, Xiaoling Song, Robert W. Owen, Michael Hoffmeister, Heiko Becher, David Shibata, Kathy Vickers, Shannon K. Rush, Karen Makar, Gerd Würtele, Roswitha Haubner, Thomas A. Sellers, William Grady
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- Journal:
- Journal of Nutritional Science / Volume 2 / 2013
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 April 2013, e9
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- Article
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- Open access
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Vitamin D and folate are associated with decreased colorectal cancer risk and their association with colorectal cancer prognosis is under investigation. We assessed the levels of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), folate and vitamin B12 in an international pilot study in order to determine variability of these biomarkers based on geographical location. Plasma 25(OH)D3, folate and vitamin B12 concentrations were measured in 149 invasive, newly diagnosed colorectal cancer cases from Heidelberg (Germany), Seattle (WA, USA), and Tampa (FL, USA) and in ninety-one age- and sex-matched controls. Their associations with potential predictors were assessed using multivariate linear regression analyses. Plasma 25(OH)D3, folate and vitamin B12 concentrations differed by location. Other predictors were season for 25(OH)D3 and tumour stage (vitamin B12). Season-corrected average 25(OH)D3 concentrations were higher in Heidelberg (31·7 ng/ml; range 11·0–83·0 ng/ml) than in Seattle (23·3 ng/ml; range 4·0–80·0 ng/ml) and Tampa (21·1 ng/ml; range 4·6–51·6 ng/ml). In Heidelberg, a strong seasonal variation was observed. Folate (11·1 ng/ml) and vitamin B12 (395 pg/ml) concentrations in Heidelberg were lower than those in Seattle (25·3 ng/ml and 740 pg/ml, respectively) and Tampa (23·8 ng/ml and 522 pg/ml, respectively). Differences in plasma 25(OH)D3 and folate concentrations between Heidelberg and the US sites were observed, probably reflecting variation in outdoor activities and sun-avoidance behaviour during summer as well as in folic acid fortification and supplement use. Intra-site differences at each study location were greater than between-location variability, suggesting that individual health behaviours play a significant role. Nevertheless, the intra-site differences we observed may be due to chance because of the limited sample size. Our pilot study illustrates the value of an international cohort in studying colorectal cancer prognosis to discern geographical differences in a broad range of exposures.
8 - Risk estimation for familial breast and ovarian cancer
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- By Jenny Chang-Claude, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, University of Heidelberg, Germany, Heiko Becher, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, University of Heidelberg, Germany
- Edited by Patrick J. Morrison, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast, Shirley V. Hodgson, Guy's Hospital, London, Neva E. Haites, University of Aberdeen
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- Book:
- Familial Breast and Ovarian Cancer
- Published online:
- 24 August 2009
- Print publication:
- 07 November 2002, pp 125-140
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Summary
Introduction
The awareness of genetic predisposition to breast cancer has increased tremendously since the identification of the two highly penetrant breast and ovarian cancer genes – BRCA1 and BRCA2 (Miki et al., 1994; Wooster et al., 1995). Women with a family history of breast cancer are particularly concerned about their own risk, thus creating a greater demand for risk assessment and genetic counselling as well as for genetic testing. Mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 account for the majority of high-risk families in which the segregation of a dominant high-penetrance susceptibility gene has quite clearly manifested itself in multiple cases of breast cancer over several generations of close relatives (Ford et al., 1998). Only a small proportion of families with a less striking family history and isolated early-onset breast cancer can also be attributed to mutations in these genes (Frank et al., 1998; Malone et al., 1998; Newman et al., 1998) except in founder populations with recurrent mutations (Andersen et al., 1996; Johannesdottir et al., 1996; Fodor et al., 1998; Thorlacius et al., 1998). Screening for mutations is, however, still a technically demanding and labour-intensive task, and gene testing is usually only offered to persons with a greater than three-fold increase in risk compared with the general population (Gayther and Ponder, 1997). Generally, for genetic counselling on familial breast cancer, an accurate evaluation is needed of the probability that a woman carries a mutation before any decisions are made regarding genetic testing.