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A 28-year prospective analysis of serum vitamin E, vitamin E-related genetic variation and risk of prostate cancer

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases volume 25, pages 553–560 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Investigate the relationship between serum α-tocopherol concentration and long-term risk of prostate cancer, and evaluate the interaction with vitamin E-related genetic variants and their polygenic risk score (PRS).

Methods

We conducted a biochemical analysis of 29,102 male Finnish smokers in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study. Serum α-tocopherol was measured at baseline using high-performance liquid chromatography, and 2724 prostate cancer cases were identified during 28 years of follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models examined whether serum α-tocopherol concentrations were associated with prostate cancer risk. Among 8383 participants, three SNPs related to vitamin E status (rs964184, rs2108622, and rs11057830) were examined to determine whether they modified the relationship between serum α-tocopherol concentrations and prostate cancer risk, both individually and as a PRS using logistic regression models.

Results

No association was observed between serum α-tocopherol and prostate cancer risk (fifth quintile (Q5) vs. Q1 hazard ratio (HR) = 0.87, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.75, 1.02; P-trend = 0.57). Though no interactions were seen by population characteristics, high α-tocopherol concentration was associated with reduced prostate cancer risk among the trial α-tocopherol supplementation group (Q5 quintile vs. Q1 HR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.64, 0.99). Finally, no associated interaction between the three SNPs or their PRS and prostate cancer risk was observed.

Conclusion

Although there was a weak inverse association between α-tocopherol concentration and prostate cancer risk over nearly three decades, our findings suggest that men receiving the trial α-tocopherol supplementation who had higher baseline serum α-tocopherol concentration experienced reduced prostate cancer risk. Vitamin E-related genotypes did not modify the serum α-tocopherol-prostate cancer risk association.

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Code availability

The analytical methods for this study are available from the corresponding authors (WRL and DA) upon appropriate request.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the participants in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study for their contributions to this research.

Funding

The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study is supported by the Intramural Research Program of the United States National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Health and Human Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Wayne R. Lawrence, Jung-Eun Lim, Jiaqi Huang, Stephanie J. Weinstein & Demetrius Albanes

  2. National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Diabetes Immunology, Ministry of Education, and Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, China

    Jiaqi Huang

  3. Department of Public Health Solutions, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Satu Mӓnnistӧ

Authors
  1. Wayne R. Lawrence
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  2. Jung-Eun Lim
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  4. Stephanie J. Weinstein
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  6. Demetrius Albanes
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Contributions

Conception and design: WRL and DA. Development of methodology: WRL, JH, and DA. Acquisition of data: WRL, SJW, and DA. Analysis and interpretation of data (e.g., statistical analysis, biostatistics, computational analysis): WRL, JL, JH, SJW, SM, and DA. Writing, review, and/or revision of the manuscript: WRL, JL, JH, SJW, SM, and DA.

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Correspondence to Wayne R. Lawrence or Demetrius Albanes.

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Lawrence, W.R., Lim, JE., Huang, J. et al. A 28-year prospective analysis of serum vitamin E, vitamin E-related genetic variation and risk of prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 25, 553–560 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-022-00511-y

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