Open AccessProspective study of serum B vitamins levels and oesophageal and gastric cancers in China
Author(s) -
Jiansong Ren,
Gwen Murphy,
JinHu Fan,
Sanford M. Dawsey,
Philip R. Taylor,
Jacob Selhub,
YouLin Qiao,
Christian C. Abnet
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/srep35281
Subject(s) - gastroenterology , medicine , riboflavin , hazard ratio , cohort , vitamin b12 , prospective cohort study , confounding , population , proportional hazards model , confidence interval , biology , biochemistry , environmental health
B vitamins play an essential role in DNA synthesis and methylation, and may protect against oesophageal and gastric cancers. In this case-cohort study, subjects were enrolled from the General Population Nutrition Intervention Trial in Linxian, China. Subjects included 498 oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs), 255 gastric cardia adenocarcinomas (GCAs), and an age- and sex-matched sub-cohort of 947 individuals. Baseline serum riboflavin, pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), folate, vitamin B12, and flavin mononucleotide (FMN) were measured for all subjects. We estimated the associations with Cox proportional hazard models, with adjustment for potential confounders. Compared to those in the lowest quartile of serum riboflavin, those in the highest had a 44% lower risk of OSCC (HR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.41 to 0.75). Serum vitamin B12 as a continuous variable was observed to be significantly inversely associated with OSCC (HR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.89 to 1.01, P for score test = 0.041). Higher serum FMN levels were significantly associated with increased risk of OSCC (HR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.16) and GCA (HR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.20). Our study prompted that B vitamins have the potential role as chemopreventive agents for upper gastrointestinal cancers.