Associations of C-Reactive Protein, Granulocytes and Granulocyte-to-Lymphocyte Ratio with Mortality from Breast Cancer in Non-Institutionalized American Women.
Inflammation may play a role in breast cancer, but evidence in the general population is lacking. We investigated the association between serum inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), absolute granulocyte count (AGC) and granulocyte-to-lymphocyte (G/L) ratio) and breast cancer (BCa) mortality in American women while accounting for adiposity. From the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) we selected all women aged 20+ without any known history of cancer (n = 7,780). Multivariable Cox regression models were used to assess CRP, AGC and G/L ratio in relation to mortality from BCa, all cancer, cardiovascular disease and all causes. Stratification analyses by body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference were performed to investigate the effect of adiposity on this association. During a mean follow-up of 167 months, 44 women died from BCa. After adjustments for BMI and waist circumference, only G/L ratio was associated to risk of BCa death (e.g. HR: 2.35, 95% CI: 1.36-4.06 for the 3rd compared to the 1st tertile, Ptrend = 0.01). Except for a borderline interaction between CRP categories and obesity by BMI, no statistically significant interaction between markers and categories of BMI or waist circumference was observed. All three markers were associated with mortality from cardiovascular disease and all causes. Our findings support a role of inflammation in BCa mortality which may involve mechanisms apart from obesity, and potential usefulness of GLR as a marker in assessing inflammation and cancer.
Cancer Epidemiology Group, Division of Cancer Studies, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.|Division of Haematology/Oncology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Wahyu
W
Wulaningsih
Cancer Epidemiology Group, Division of Cancer Studies, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.|Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.|Regional Cancer Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Lars
L
Holmberg
Department of Immunobiology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Lucie
L
Abeler-Doner
Richard Dimbleby Department of Cancer Research, Randall Division and Division of Cancer Studies, Kings College London, London, United Kingdom.|Department of Medical Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Tony
T
Ng
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sabine
S
Rohrmann
Cancer Epidemiology Group, Division of Cancer Studies, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Mieke
M
Van Hemelrijck
D050154:Adiposity; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D055105:Waist Circumference
D002097:C-Reactive Protein