Cancer and blood concentrations of the comutagen harmane in essential tremor.
Blood concentrations of harmane, a tremor-producing neurotoxin, are elevated in essential tremor (ET). Harmane is also a comutagen. Using a case-control design, we compared the prevalence of cancer in ET cases vs. controls, and determined whether blood harmane concentrations are elevated among ET cases with cancer. 66/267 (24.7%) ET cases vs. 55/331 (16.6%) controls had cancer (adjusted OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.01-2.30, P = 0.04). Among specific cancer types, colon cancer was more prevalent in ET cases than controls (2.6% vs. 0.6%, P = 0.04). Log blood harmane concentration was higher in ET cases vs. controls (P = 0.02) and in participants with vs. without cancer (P = 0.02). Log blood harmane concentration was highest in ET cases with cancer when compared with other groups (P = 0.009). These links between cancer and ET and between high blood harmane and cancer in ET deserve further study.
Louis
Elan D
ED
GH Sergievsky Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. edl2@columbia.edu
Pellegrino
Kathryn M
KM
Factor-Litvak
Pam
P
Rios
Eileen
E
Jiang
Wendy
W
Henchcliffe
Claire
C
Zheng
Wei
W
D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006247:Harmine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*
D006247:Harmine; C005010:harman