PubMed · 12544414
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Eugene D Shapiro. 2003. Case-control studies.. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006454-200301000-00019
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We analyzed the potential role of pizza on cancer risk, using data from an integrated network of case-control studies conducted in Italy between 1991 and 2000. Cancer sites were: oral cavity and pharynx (598 cases), esophagus (304 cases), larynx (460 cases), colon (1,225 cases) and rectum (728 cases). Controls were 4,999 patients admitted for acute, non-neoplastic conditions to the same hospital network as cases. Odds ratios for regular pizza consumers were 0.66 (95% confidence interval, CI = 0.47-0.93) for oral and pharyngeal cancer, 0.41 (95% CI = 0.25-0.69) for oesophageal, 0.82 (95% CI = 0.56-1.19) for laryngeal, 0.74 (95% CI = 0.61-0.89) for colon and 0.93 (95% CI = 0.75-1.17) for rectal cancer. Pizza appears therefore to be a favorable indicator of risk for digestive tract neoplasms in this population.
BACKGROUND: Steroid 5alpha-reductase 2 (SRD5A2) catalyzes the conversion of testosterone to the more potent androgen, DHT, in the prostate. The therapeutic influence of SRD5A2 inhibitor finasteride on prostate cancer is currently unknown. The direction and extent of changes in SRD5A2 expression in disease tissues is a relevant issue in this regard. METHODS: The expression differences of SRD5A2 in tissues representative of normal, benign, and malignant growth in the human prostate were examined in parallel by comparative analysis of relevant microarray gene expression data. Semiquantitative RT-PCR was used to further verify the gene expression differences of SRD5A2. RESULTS: Consistently decreased expression of SRD5A2 was observed in 25 prostate cancer samples when compared to 25 matched normal samples and nine BPH samples. Expression differences among these samples for six other genes were presented in parallel as indicators of the direction and extent of expression changes. These additional genes include SRD5A1, Hepsin (overexpressed in prostate cancer), AMACR (overexpressed in prostate cancer), Keratin 8 (epithelial marker), smooth muscle actin (stromal marker), Nell2 (overexpressed in BPH). Semiquantitative RT-PCR verified the expression differences for SRD5A2 in six normal, six BPH, and six prostate cancer samples. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study, combined with those from previous studies, indicate an association of prostate cancer with reduced 5alpha-reductase enzymatic activity as a result of remarkably decreased expression of the SRD5A2 gene. The implications of this study for finasteride therapy of prostate cancer are discussed.
The central role of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) in the folate metabolism renders MTHFR gene polymorphisms (C677T and A1298C) potential modulators of a variety of disorders whose development depends on folate/homocysteine imbalance. Here, we provide additional evidence on the protective role of these polymorphisms in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common pediatric cancer. A case-control study was conducted in 270 ALL patients and 300 healthy controls of French-Canadian origin. The TT677/AA1298 and CC677/CC1298 individuals were associated with reduced risk of ALL (crude odds ratio [OR] = 0.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.2-0.9; and OR = 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.6; respectively). Further stratification in patients born before and after January 1996 (approximate time of Health Canada recommendation for folic acid supplement in pregnancy) revealed that the protective effect of MTHFR variants is accentuated and present only in children born before 1996. Similar results were obtained when a transmission disequilibrium test was performed on a subset of children (n = 95) in a family-based study. This finding suggests gene-environment interaction and its role in the susceptibility to childhood ALL, which is consistent with previous findings associating either folate deficiency or MTHFR polymorphisms with risk of leukemia.