Genetic clues link lipoprotein A to prostate cancer risk
A new analysis has uncovered a potential link between higher prostate cancer risk and genetic variants associated with higher bloodstream levels of the cholesterol-transporting molecule lipoprotein A. Anna Ioannidou of Imperial College London, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine.
Some factors associated with higher risk of prostate cancer cannot be modified, such as older age and being of African descent. Meanwhile, other risk factors for the aggressive form of the disease, such as smoking and obesity, can potentially be modified. Previous research suggests that higher blood levels of lipids might also be associated with increased risk. If so, lipid-lowering drugs could theoretically reduce prostate cancer risk. However, the existing evidence for associations between blood lipids and prostate cancer has been inconclusive.
To better understand these possible associations, Ioannidou and colleagues analyzed links between prostate cancer risk and several blood lipids: namely, lipoprotein A, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and apolipoproteins A and B. They drew on two large research initiatives, U.K. Biobank and the PRACTICAL consortium, in order to analyze genomic and prostate cancer-risk data for hundreds of thousands of individuals.
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003859
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