Blood levels of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, aspirin, and the risk of colorectal cancer.

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Hall MN, Campos H, Li H, Sesso HD, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Ma J

Blood levels of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, aspirin, and the risk of colorectal cancer.

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Feb;16(2):314-21.

PubMed ID

17301265 [ View in PubMed

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: N-3 fatty acids may decrease risk of colorectal cancer by inhibiting the cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme and production of proinflammatory eicosanoids derived from arachidonic acid (20:4n-6). Aspirin also inhibits the cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme and may share with n-3 fatty acids a potential mechanism to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer. METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control analysis using blood samples collected from the Physicians' Health Study participants in 1982 to 1984. N-3 and n-6 fatty acid levels were measured using gas-liquid chromatography for 178 men who developed colorectal cancer through December 31, 1995 and 282 age- and smoking-matched controls. We used conditional logistic regression to examine associations. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS: Total long-chain n-3 fatty acids were nonsignificantly inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk [relative risk (RR) for highest versus lowest quartile, 0.60; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.32 to 1.11; P(trend) = 0.10], after adjustment for possible confounders. We observed potential interaction between randomized aspirin assignment and long-chain n-3 fatty acid levels (P(interaction) = 0.04). Among men not on aspirin, RRs (95% CI) for increasing quartiles of long-chain n-3 fatty acids were 1.00 (reference), 0.60 (0.28-1.28), 0.51 (0.22-1.17), and 0.34 (0.15-0.82), P(trend) = 0.006. For participants taking aspirin, there was no additional benefit of increasing n-3 fatty acid levels. The RR (95% CI) for the highest versus lowest quartile of n-6 fatty acids was 0.64 (0.35-1.17). CONCLUSIONS: Blood levels of long-chain n-3 fatty acids were associated with decreased risk of colorectal cancer among men not using aspirin. N-6 fatty acids were nonsignificantly inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drugs

Acetylsalicylic acid

Drug Targets

Drug	Target	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Acetylsalicylic acid	Prostaglandin G/H synthase 2	Protein	Humans	Yes	Inhibitor	Details