Volume 153, Issue 3 pp. 499-511
CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY

Saturated fatty acid intake, genetic risk and colorectal cancer incidence: A large-scale prospective cohort study

Linyun Fan

Linyun Fan

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Yimin Cai

Yimin Cai

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Haoxue Wang

Haoxue Wang

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Heng Zhang

Heng Zhang

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Can Chen

Can Chen

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Ming Zhang

Ming Zhang

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Zequn Lu

Zequn Lu

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Yanmin Li

Yanmin Li

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Fuwei Zhang

Fuwei Zhang

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Caibo Ning

Caibo Ning

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Wenzhuo Wang

Wenzhuo Wang

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Yizhuo Liu

Yizhuo Liu

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Hanting Li

Hanting Li

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Gaoyuan Li

Gaoyuan Li

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Jingyi Peng

Jingyi Peng

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Kexin Hu

Kexin Hu

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Bin Li

Bin Li

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Chaoqun Huang

Chaoqun Huang

Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Xiaojun Yang

Xiaojun Yang

Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Yongchang Wei

Yongchang Wei

Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Ying Zhu

Ying Zhu

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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Meng Jin

Corresponding Author

Meng Jin

Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

Correspondence

Meng Jin, Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, China.

Email: [email protected]

Xiaoping Miao and Jianbo Tian, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China.

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

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Xiaoping Miao

Corresponding Author

Xiaoping Miao

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

Research Center of Public Health, Renmin hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

Correspondence

Meng Jin, Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, China.

Email: [email protected]

Xiaoping Miao and Jianbo Tian, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China.

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

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Jianbo Tian

Corresponding Author

Jianbo Tian

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health; Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

Research Center of Public Health, Renmin hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

Correspondence

Meng Jin, Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, China.

Email: [email protected]

Xiaoping Miao and Jianbo Tian, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China.

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

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First published: 23 April 2023

Linyun Fan, Yimin Cai, Haoxue Wang and Heng Zhang have contributed equally to this study.

Abstract

Previous investigations mainly focused on the associations of dietary fatty acids with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, which ignored gene-environment interaction and mechanisms interpretation. We conducted a case-control study (751 cases and 3058 controls) and a prospective cohort study (125 021 participants) to explore the associations between dietary fatty acids, genetic risks, and CRC. Results showed that high intake of saturated fatty acid (SFA) was associated with a higher risk of CRC than low SFA intake (HR =1.22, 95% CI:1.02-1.46). Participants at high genetic risk had a greater risk of CRC with the HR of 2.48 (2.11-2.91) than those at low genetic risk. A multiplicative interaction of genetic risk and SFA intake with incident CRC risk was found (PInteraction = 7.59 × 10−20), demonstrating that participants with high genetic risk and high SFA intake had a 3.75-fold greater risk of CRC than those with low genetic risk and low SFA intake. Furthermore, incorporating PRS and SFA into traditional clinical risk factors improved the discriminatory accuracy for CRC risk stratification (AUC from 0.706 to 0.731). Multi-omics data showed that exposure to SFA-rich high-fat dietary (HFD) can responsively induce epigenome reprogramming of some oncogenes and pathological activation of fatty acid metabolism pathway, which may contribute to CRC development through changes in gut microbiomes, metabolites, and tumor-infiltrating immune cells. These findings suggest that individuals with high genetic risk of CRC may benefit from reducing SFA intake. The incorporation of SFA intake and PRS into traditional clinical risk factors will help improve high-risk sub-populations in individualized CRC prevention.

Graphical Abstract

What's new?

A complex interplay between environmental and genetic risk factors is thought to be involved in colorectal cancer. However, previous studies mainly focused on the associations of dietary fatty acids with colorectal cancer risk. Here, the authors report synergistic effects between saturated fatty acid intake and polygenic risk score on incident colorectal cancer risk. The findings highlight the importance of low saturated fatty acid intake, particularly in subjects at high genetic risk of colorectal cancer. Furthermore, the authors present a predictive model combining saturated fatty acid intake and polygenic risk score, which may provide valuable risk stratification guidance for diet recommendations.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data from UK Biobank (www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/register-apply) are available to all researchers upon making an application. This research has been conducted using the UKB Resource under the Application number 94939. All source code is publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/zeroflyer/SFA-intake). Other data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

ETHICS STATEMENT

The North West Multi-Centre Research Ethics Committee approved the collection and use of UK Biobank data. All participants provided written informed consent. Institutional review board approval was waived for this analysis because of the publicly available and de-identified data. The study was conducted with the approval of the Institutional Review Board of Wuhan university (ID:2022042).

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