A strong positive association has been observed between circulating anti‐Müllerian hormone (AMH), a biomarker of ovarian reserve, and breast cancer risk in three prospective studies. Confirming this association is important because of the paucity of biomarkers of breast cancer risk in premenopausal women. We conducted a consortium study including ten prospective cohorts that had collected blood from premenopausal women. A nested case–control design was implemented within each cohort. A total of 2,835 invasive (80%) and in situ (20%) breast cancer cases were individually matched to controls (n = 3,122) on age at blood donation. AMH was measured using a high sensitivity enzyme‐linked immunoabsorbent assay. Conditional logistic regression was applied to the aggregated dataset. There was a statistically significant trend of increasing breast cancer risk with increasing AMH concentration (p_trend across quartiles <0.0001) after adjusting for breast cancer risk factors. The odds ratio (OR) for breast cancer in the top vs. bottom quartile of AMH was 1.60 (95% CI = 1.31–1.94). Though the test for interaction was not statistically significant (p_interaction = 0.15), the trend was statistically significant only for tumors positive for both estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR): ER+/PR+: OR_Q4–Q1 = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.46–2.64, p_trend <0.0001; ER+/PR−: OR_Q4–Q1 = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.40–1.68, p_trend = 0.51; ER−/PR+: OR_Q4–Q1 = 3.23, 95% CI = 0.48–21.9, p_trend = 0.26; ER−/PR−: OR_Q4–Q1 = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.63–2.09, p_trend = 0.60. The association was observed for both pre‐ (OR_Q4–Q1= 1.35, 95% CI = 1.05–1.73) and post‐menopausal (OR_Q4–Q1 = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.03–2.53) breast cancer (p_interaction = 0.34). In this large consortium study, we confirmed that AMH is associated with breast cancer risk, with a 60% increase in risk for women in the top vs. bottom quartile of AMH.

What's new? To make informed decisions about screening and prevention, women need tools to accurately assess their breast cancer risk. Young women have few predictive biomarkers to look to; estrogen and progesterone are only weakly predictive before menopause. Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), which strongly correlates with age at menopause, may also correlate with breast cancer risk, according to some previous data. Here, the authors test this correlation by conducting nested case-control studies within ten different cohorts. They found that breast cancer risk increased along with increasing AMH concentration, confirming this hormone as a possible biomarker for breast cancer.

Background: Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer have low-risk cancers. How to predict prostate cancer progression at the time of diagnosis remains challenging.

Objective: To identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with death from prostate cancer.

Design, setting, and participants: Blood samples from 11 506 men in Sweden were collected during 1991–1996. Of these, 1053 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 245 died from the disease. Stage and grade at diagnosis and outcome information were obtained, and DNA from all cases was genotyped.

Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: A total of 6 126 633 SNPs were tested for association with prostate-cancer-specific survival time using a Cox proportional hazard model, adjusted for age, stage, and grade at diagnosis. A value of 1 × 10−6 was used as suggestive significance threshold. Positive candidate SNPs were tested for association with gene expression using expression quantitative trait locus analysis.

Results and limitations: We found 12 SNPs at seven independent loci associated with prostate-cancer-specific survival time. One of 6 126 633 SNPs tested reached genome-wide significance (p < 5 × 10−8) and replicated in an independent cohort: rs73055188 (p = 5.27 × 10−9, per-allele hazard ratio [HR] = 2.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.72–2.98) in the AOX1 gene. A second SNP reached a suggestive level of significance (p < 1 × 10−6) and replicated in an independent cohort: rs2702185 (p = 7.1 × 10−7, per-allele HR = 2.55, 95% CI = 1.76–3.69) in the SMG7 gene. The SNP rs73055188 is correlated with AOX1 expression levels, which is associated with biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer in independent cohorts. This association is yet to be validated in other ethnic groups.

Conclusions: The SNP rs73055188 at the AOX1 locus is associated with prostate-cancer-specific survival time, and AOX1 gene expression level is correlated with biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.

Patient summary: We identify two genetic markers that are associated with prostate-cancer-specific survival time.

BACKGROUND: Several environmental factors, including infectious agents, have been suggested to cause Alzheimer's disease (AD). Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been associated with AD in several recent studies.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether carriage of CMV, alone or in combination with Herpes simplex virus (HSV), increased the risk of developing AD.

METHODS: Plasma samples from 360 AD cases (75.3% women, mean age 61.2 years), taken an average of 9.6 years before AD diagnosis, and 360 age-, sex-, cohort-, and sampling date matched dementia-free controls were analyzed to detect anti-CMV (immunoglobulin [Ig] G and IgM), group-specific anti-HSV (IgG and IgM), and specific anti-HSV1 and HSV2 IgG antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. AD cases and dementia-free controls were compared using conditional logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS: The presence of anti-CMV IgG antibodies did not increase the risk of AD (odds ratio [OR], 0.857; p = 0.497). Among AD cases, an association between CMV and HSV1 carriage was detected (OR 7.145, p < 0.001); in a conditional logistic regression model, the interaction between CMV and HSV1 was associated with AD development (OR 5.662; p = 0.007).

CONCLUSION: The present findings do not support a direct relationship between CMV infection and the development of AD; however, an interaction between CMV and HSV1 was found to be associated significantly with AD development. These findings suggest that CMV infection facilitates the development of HSV1-associated AD, possibly via its effects on the immune system.

Heavy alcohol consumption is an established risk factor for hypertension; the mechanism by which alcohol consumption impact blood pressure (BP) regulation remains unknown. We hypothesized that a genome-wide association study accounting for gene-alcohol consumption interaction for BP might identify additional BP loci and contribute to the understanding of alcohol-related BP regulation. We conducted a large two-stage investigation incorporating joint testing of main genetic effects and single nucleotide variant (SNV)-alcohol consumption interactions. In Stage 1, genome-wide discovery meta-analyses in approximate to 131 K individuals across several ancestry groups yielded 3,514 SNVs (245 loci) with suggestive evidence of association (P <1.0 x 10(-5)). In Stage 2, these SNVs were tested for independent external replication in individuals across multiple ancestries. We identified and replicated (at Bonferroni correction threshold) five novel BP loci (380 SNVs in 21 genes) and 49 previously reported BP loci (2,159 SNVs in 109 genes) in European ancestry, and in multi-ancestry meta-analyses (P < 5.0 x 10(-8)). For African ancestry samples, we detected 18 potentially novel BP loci (P< 5.0 x 10(-8)) in Stage 1 that warrant further replication. Additionally, correlated meta-analysis identified eight novel BP loci (11 genes). Several genes in these loci (e.g., PINX1, GATA4, BLK, FTO and GABBR2 have been previously reported to be associated with alcohol consumption. These findings provide insights into the role of alcohol consumption in the genetic architecture of hypertension.

Disturbances in one-carbon metabolism, intracellular reactions involved in nucleotide synthesis and methylation, likely increase the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, results have been inconsistent. To explore whether this inconsistency could be explained by intertumoral heterogeneity, we evaluated a comprehensive panel of one-carbon metabolism biomarkers and some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in relation to the risk of molecular subtypes of CRC defined by mutations in the KRAS and BRAF oncogenes. This nested case-control study included 488 CRC cases and 947 matched controls from two population-based cohorts in the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study. We analyzed 14 biomarkers and 17 SNPs in prediagnostic blood and determined KRAS and BRAF mutation status in tumor tissue. In a multivariate network analysis, no variable displayed a strong association with the risk of specific CRC subtypes. A non-synonymous SNP in the CTH gene, rs1021737, had a stronger association compared with other variables. In subsequent univariate analyses, participants with variant rs1021737 genotype had a decreased risk of KRAS-mutated CRC (OR per allele = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.50, 1.05), and an increased risk of BRAF-mutated CRC (OR per allele = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.07, 2.30), with weak evidence for heterogeneity (P_{heterogeneity} = 0.01). This subtype-specific SNP association was not replicated in a case-case analysis of 533 CRC cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (P = 0.85). In conclusion, we found no support for clear subtype-specific roles of one-carbon metabolism biomarkers and SNPs in CRC development, making differences in CRC molecular subtype distributions an unlikely explanation for the varying results on the role of one-carbon metabolism in CRC development across previous studies. Further investigation of the CTH gene in colorectal carcinogenesis with regards to KRAS and BRAF mutations or other molecular characteristics of the tumor may be warranted.

Background: One-carbon metabolism biomarker are easily measured in plasma, but analyzing them one at a time in relation to disease does not take into account the interdependence of the many factors involved. The relative dynamics of major one-carbon metabolism branches can be assessed by relating the functional B-vitamin marker total homocysteine (tHcy) to transsulfuration (total cysteine) and methylation (creatinine) outputs.

Objective: We validated the ratios of tHcy to total cysteine (Hcy:Cys), tHcy to creatinine (Hcy:Cre), and tHcy to cysteine to creatinine (Hcy:Cys:Cre) as functional markers of B-vitamin status. We also calculated the associations of these ratios to colorectal cancer (CRC) risk.

Design: The relative contribution of potential confounders to the variance of the ratio-based B-vitamin markers was calculated by linear regression in a nested case-control study of 613 CRC cases and 1211 matched controls. Total B-vitamin status was represented by a summary score comprising Z-standardized plasma concentrations of folate, cobalamin, betaine, pyridoxal 5´-phosphate, and riboflavin. Associations with CRC risk were estimated using conditional logistic regression.

Results: The ratio-based B-vitamin markers all outperformed tHcy as markers of total B-vitamin status, in both CRC cases and controls. Associations with CRC risk were similar for the ratio-based B-vitamin markers and total B-vitamin status (approximately 25% lower risk for high versus low B-vitamin status).

Conclusions: Ratio-based B-vitamin markers were good predictors of total B-vitamin status, and displayed similar associations with CRC risk. Since tHcy and creatinine are routinely clinically analyzed, Hcy:Cre could be easily implemented in clinical practice to aid interpretation of tHcy results.

Recent prospective studies have shown that dysregulation of the immune system may precede the development of B‐cell lymphomas (BCL) in immunocompetent individuals. However, to date, the studies were restricted to a few immune markers, which were considered separately. Using a nested case–control study within two European prospective cohorts, we measured plasma levels of 28 immune markers in samples collected a median of 6 years before diagnosis (range 2.01–15.97) in 268 incident cases of BCL (including multiple myeloma [MM]) and matched controls. Linear mixed models and partial least square analyses were used to analyze the association between levels of immune marker and the incidence of BCL and its main histological subtypes and to investigate potential biomarkers predictive of the time to diagnosis. Linear mixed model analyses identified associations linking lower levels of fibroblast growth factor‐2 (FGF‐2 p = 7.2 × 10−4) and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF‐α, p = 6.5 × 10−5) and BCL incidence. Analyses stratified by histological subtypes identified inverse associations for MM subtype including FGF‐2 (p = 7.8 × 10−7), TGF‐α (p = 4.08 × 10−5), fractalkine (p = 1.12 × 10−3), monocyte chemotactic protein‐3 (p = 1.36 × 10−4), macrophage inflammatory protein 1‐alpha (p = 4.6 × 10−4) and vascular endothelial growth factor (p = 4.23 × 10−5). Our results also provided marginal support for already reported associations between chemokines and diffuse large BCL (DLBCL) and cytokines and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Case‐only analyses showed that Granulocyte‐macrophage colony stimulating factor levels were consistently higher closer to diagnosis, which provides further evidence of its role in tumor progression. In conclusion, our study suggests a role of growth‐factors in the incidence of MM and of chemokine and cytokine regulation in DLBCL and CLL.

Background: High whole grain intake has consistently been associated with lowered risk of developing a number of chronic diseases. Among cereals, rye has highest content of dietary fiber, together with a wide variety of bioactive compounds. There is accumulating evidence from intervention studies of physiological effects of rye foods with potential health benefits.

Scope and approach: This review summarizes the state of the art of rye and health and identifies future directions for research and innovation, based partly on findings presented at the international conference "The Power of Rye", angstrom land, Finland, 7-8 June 2017.

Key findings and conclusions: Rye foods have well-established beneficial effects on insulin metabolism compared with wheat bread under isocaloric conditions and at standardized amounts of available carbohydrates, which may have positive implications for diabetes prevention. Recent findings suggest that alterations in blood glucose flux partly explain these effects. Moreover, several studies have shown beneficial effects of rye-based foods on satiety, which is one plausible mechanism behind recently demonstrated beneficial effects on weight management. Emerging results indicate beneficial effects of rye intake on inflammation and blood lipids. More research is needed to uncover underlying mechanisms for other demonstrated effects and the long-term implications for health. A challenge with rye-based foods is making them palatable and widely acceptable to consumers. Development of innovative and tasty rye products and targeted communication strategies is crucial in increasing awareness and consumption of rye foods. Novel results in this regard are presented in this review.

BACKGROUND: It is unknown if dietary recommendations for cancer prevention are applicable to the elderly. We analyzed WCRF/AICR recommendations in cohorts of European and US adults aged 60 years and above.

METHODS: Individual participant data meta-analysis including 362,114 participants (43% women), from seven prospective cohort studies, free from cancer at enrollment. The WCRF/AICR diet score was based on: 1) energy-dense foods and sugary drinks, 2) plant foods, 3) red and processed meat 4) alcoholic drinks. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine the association between the diet score and cancer risks. Adjusted, cohort-specific hazard ratios (HR) were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Risk Advancement Periods (RAP) were calculated to quantify the time period by which the risk of cancer was postponed among those adhering to the recommendations.

RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 11 to 15 years across cohorts, 69,708 cancer cases were identified. Each one-point increase in the WCRF/AICR diet score [range 0 (no) to 4 (complete adherence)] was significantly associated with a lower risk of total cancer (HR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.92-0.97), cancers of the colorectum (HR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.80-0.89), prostate (HR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.92-0.97), but not breast or lung. Adherence to an additional component of the WCRF/AICR diet score significantly postponed the incidence of cancer at any site by 1.6 years (RAP: -1.6, 95% CI: -4.09 to -2.16).

CONCLUSION: Adherence to WCRF/AICR dietary recommendations is associated with lower risk of cancer among older adults.

IMPACT: Dietary recommendations for cancer prevention are applicable to the elderly.

A small percentage of women with cervical HPV infection progress to cervical neoplasia, and the risk factors determining progression are incompletely understood. We sought to define the genetic loci involved in cervical neoplasia and to assess its heritability using unbiased unrelated case/control statistical approaches. We demonstrated strong association of cervical neoplasia with risk and protective HLA haplotypes that are determined by the amino-acids carried at positions 13 and 71 in pocket 4 of HLA-DRB1 and position 156 in HLA-B. Furthermore, 36% (standard error 2.4%) of liability of HPV-associated cervical pre-cancer and cancer is determined by common genetic variants. Women in the highest 10% of genetic risk scores have approximately >7.1% risk, and those in the highest 5% have approximately >21.6% risk, of developing cervical neoplasia. Future studies should examine genetic risk prediction in assessing the risk of cervical neoplasia further, in combination with other screening methods.