Serum inflammatory markers in relation to prostate cancer severity and death in the Swedish AMORIS study

R. Arthur*, R. Williams, H. Garmo, L. Holmberg, P. Stattin, H. Malmström, M. Lambe, N. Hammar, G. Walldius, D. Robinsson, I. Jungner, M. Van Hemelrijck

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    40 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Inflammation is a well-documented driver of cancer development and progression. However, little is known about its role in prostate carcinogenesis. Thus, we examined the association of C-reactive protein (CRP), haptoglobin, albumin and white blood cells (WBC) with prostate cancer (PCa) severity (defined by PCa risk category and clinicopathological characteristics) and progression (defined by PCa death). We selected 8,471 Swedish men with newly diagnosed PCa who had exposure measurements taken approximately 14 years prior to diagnosis. We calculated odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the associations between the inflammatory markers and PCa severity using logistic regression, while Cox proportional hazard regression was used for the associations with overall and PCa death. Serum CRP levels were associated with increased odds of high risk and metastatic PCa, and high PSA levels (≥20 µg/L) (OR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.06–1.56, 1.32; 1.05–1.65 and 1.51; 1.26–1.81, respectively). Similarly, higher haptoglobin levels were associated with increased odds of metastatic PCa, high PSA level and possibly high grade PCa (1.38; 1.10–1.74, 1.50; 1.17–1.93 and 1.25; 1.00–1.56, respectively). Albumin was positively associated with Gleason 4 + 3 tumour (1.38; 1.02–1.86) and overall death (HRunit increase in log: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.11–2.30), but inversely associated with high risk PCa and high PSA levels (≥20 µg/L) (0.71; 0.56–0.89 and 0.72; 0.5 9–0.90). WBC was associated with increased odds of T3–T4 PCa. Except for albumin, none of these markers were associated with PCa death or overall death. Systemic inflammation as early as 14 years prior to diagnosis may influence prostate cancer severity.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2254-2262
    Number of pages9
    JournalInternational Journal of Cancer
    Volume142
    Issue number11
    Early online date26 Jan 2018
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2018

    Keywords

    • albumin
    • C-reactive protein
    • haptoglobin
    • prostate cancer
    • white blood cells

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