In a new study from Nanjing Medical University, researchers found healthy lifestyle factors such as abstinence from smoking and drinking, low body mass index, and exercise linked to decreased cancer incidence, even in individuals with a high genetic risk.
The findings suggest that everyone should have a healthy lifestyle to decrease overall cancer risk. This is particularly important for individuals with a high genetic risk of cancer.
As genetic research continues to uncover loci, or areas in DNA, with specific changes that influence cancer risk, researchers can define polygenic risk scores (PRS)—personalized estimates of an individual’s cancer risk—based on a patient’s unique combination of these changes.
However, most PRS are generated for a specific cancer type, rather than for overall cancer risk.
In the study, the team tried to create an indicator—the cancer polygenic risk score (CPRS)—to measure the genetic risk of cancer as a whole.
They calculated individual PRS for 16 cancers in men and 18 cancers in women, using available data from genome-wide association studies.
They then used statistical methods to combine these scores into a single measure of cancer risk, based on the relative proportion of each cancer type in the general population. Separate CPRS was generated for men and women.
To validate their CPRS, the researchers utilized genotype information from 202,842 men and 239,659 women from the UK Biobank, and calculated a CPRS for each individual.
Patients with the highest quintile CPRS were nearly twice as likely (for men) and 1.6 times as likely (for women) to have a cancer diagnosis.
Notably, 97% of patients in the study had a high genetic risk (top quintile) of at least one cancer type. This suggests that almost everyone is susceptible to at least one type of cancer.
It further indicates the importance of adherence to a healthy lifestyle for everyone.
UK Biobank participants were surveyed upon enrollment for various lifestyle factors, including smoking and alcohol consumption, body mass index, exercise habits, and typical diet.
Based on these factors, the team classified each patient as having an unfavorable (zero to one healthy factor), intermediate (two to three healthy factors), or favorable (four to five healthy factors) overall lifestyle.
They found patients with an unfavorable lifestyle and the highest quintile genetic risk were 2.99 times (in men) and 2.38 times (in women) more likely to develop cancer than those with a favorable lifestyle and the lowest quintile of genetic risk.
Among patients with high genetic risk, the five-year cancer incidence was 7.23% in men and 5.77% in women with an unfavorable lifestyle, compared with 5.51% in men and 3.69% in women with a favorable lifestyle.
Similar trends were observed in all genetic risk categories, suggesting that patients could benefit from a healthy lifestyle regardless of genetic risk.
The researchers hope their CPRS could be useful to improve a person’s awareness of their inherited susceptibility of cancer as a whole and facilitate them to participate in healthy activities.
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The study is published in Cancer Research. One author of the study is Guangfu Jin, Ph.D.
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