title: A low selenium level is associated with lung and laryngeal cancers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been suggested that selenium deficiency is a risk factor for several cancer types. We conducted a case-control study in Szczecin, a region of northwestern Poland, on 95 cases of lung cancer, 113 cases of laryngeal cancer and corresponding healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured the serum level of selenium and established genotypes for four variants in four selenoprotein genes (GPX1, GPX4, TXNRD2 and SEP15). Selenium levels in the cases were measured after diagnosis but before treatment. We calculated the odds of being diagnosed with lung or laryngeal cancer, conditional on selenium level and genotype.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among lung cancer cases, the mean selenium level was 63.2 µg/l, compared to a mean level of 74.6 µg/l for their matched controls (p<0.0001). Among laryngeal cancer cases, the mean selenium level was 64.8 µg/l, compared to a mean level of 77.1 µg/l for their matched controls (p<0.0001). Compared to a serum selenium value below 60 µg/l, a selenium level above 80 µg/l was associated with an odds ratio of 0.10 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.34; p = 0.0002) for lung cancer and 0.23 (95% CI 0. 09 to 0.56; p = 0.001) for laryngeal cancer. In analysis of four selenoprotein genes we found a modest evidence of association of genetic variant in GPX1 with the risk of lung and laryngeal cancers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A selenium level below 60 µg/l is associated with a high risk of both lung and laryngeal cancer.
authors.affiliation: International Hereditary Cancer Centre, Department of Genetics and Pathology, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Katrzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jaworska
authors.forename: Satish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Durda
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muszyńska
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sukiennicki
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jaworowska
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grodzki
authors.forename: Mieczysław
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sulikowski
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Waloszczyk
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Woloszczyk
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wójcik
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lubiński
authors.forename: Cezary
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cybulski
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dębniak
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lener
authors.forename: Antoni W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Morawski
authors.forename: Karol
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krzystolik
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Narod
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lubiński
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jakubowska
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012643:Selenium / Q000097:blood*; D051140:Selenoproteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D051140:Selenoproteins; D012643:Selenium