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Assessing the role of insulin-like growth factors and binding proteins in prostate cancer using Mendelian randomization: Genetic variants as instruments for circulating levels.


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Authors

Bonilla, Carolina 
Lewis, Sarah J 
Rowlands, Mari-Anne 
Gaunt, Tom R 
Davey Smith, George 

Abstract

Circulating insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their binding proteins (IGFBPs) are associated with prostate cancer. Using genetic variants as instruments for IGF peptides, we investigated whether these associations are likely to be causal. We identified from the literature 56 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IGF axis previously associated with biomarker levels (8 from a genome-wide association study [GWAS] and 48 in reported candidate genes). In ∼700 men without prostate cancer and two replication cohorts (N ∼ 900 and ∼9,000), we examined the properties of these SNPS as instrumental variables (IVs) for IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3. Those confirmed as strong IVs were tested for association with prostate cancer risk, low (< 7) vs. high (≥ 7) Gleason grade, localised vs. advanced stage, and mortality, in 22,936 controls and 22,992 cases. IV analysis was used in an attempt to estimate the causal effect of circulating IGF peptides on prostate cancer. Published SNPs in the IGFBP1/IGFBP3 gene region, particularly rs11977526, were strong instruments for IGF-II and IGFBP-3, less so for IGF-I. Rs11977526 was associated with high (vs. low) Gleason grade (OR per IGF-II/IGFBP-3 level-raising allele 1.05; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.10). Using rs11977526 as an IV we estimated the causal effect of a one SD increase in IGF-II (∼265 ng/mL) on risk of high vs. low grade disease as 1.14 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.31). Because of the potential for pleiotropy of the genetic instruments, these findings can only causally implicate the IGF pathway in general, not any one specific biomarker.

Description

Keywords

ALSPAC, IGFBP3, Mendelian randomization, PRACTICAL, ProtecT, UKHLS, insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins, insulin-like growth factors, prostate cancer, single nucleotide polymorphisms, Aged, Case-Control Studies, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Grading, Neoplasm Staging, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prostatic Neoplasms, Somatomedins, United Kingdom

Journal Title

Int J Cancer

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0020-7136
1097-0215

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (MR/N003284/1)
Medical Research Council (G0401527)
National Cancer Institute (R01CA128978)
Medical Research Council (G0500966)
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (via University of Oxford) (HTA no. 96/20/99)
Cancer Research UK (10710)
Cancer Research UK (12014)
Cancer Research UK (10118)
TCC (None)
National Cancer Institute (U19CA148537)
National Cancer Institute (U19CA148065)
Medical Research Council (G0401527/1)
Cancer Research Uk (None)
Cancer Research Uk (None)
Cancer Research UK (16565)
This work was supported by the World Cancer Research Fund (2011/419) and Cancer Research UK (C18281/A19169). The Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) is supported by the MRC and the University of Bristol (G0600705, MC_UU_12013/19), and the Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme is supported by Cancer Research UK programme grant C18281/A19169. The NIHR Bristol Nutrition Biomedical Research Unit is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and is a partnership between University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol. The ProtecT study is supported by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (HTA 96/20/99; ISRCTN20141297). Funding for PRACTICAL and the iCOGS infrastructure came from: the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A 10710, C12292/A11174, C1281/A12014, C5047/A8384, C5047/A15007, C5047/A10692, C8197/A16565), the National Institutes of Health (CA128978) and Post-Cancer GWAS initiative (1U19 CA148537, 1U19 CA148065 and 1U19 CA148112 - the GAME-ON initiative), the Department of Defense (W81XWH-10-1-0341), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer, Komen Foundation for the Cure, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. We acknowledge support from the NIHR to the Biomedical Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.