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Background: Higher dairy intake during adulthood has been associated with lower colorectal cancer risk. As colorectal carcinogenesis spans several decades, we hypothesised that higher dairy intake during adolescence is associated with lower risk of colorectal adenoma, a colorectal cancer precursor.Methods: In 27,196 females from the Nurses' Health Study 2, aged 25-42 years at recruitment (1989), who had completed a validated high school diet questionnaire in 1998 and undergone at least one lower bowel endoscopy between 1998 and 2011, logistic regression for clustered data was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: Colorectal adenomas were diagnosed in 2239 women. Dairy consumption during adolescence was not associated with colorectal adenoma risk (OR highest vs. lowest [≥4 vs. ≤1.42 servings/day] quintile [95% CI] 0.94 [0.80, 1.11]). By anatomical site, higher adolescent dairy intake was associated with lower rectal (0.63 [0.42, 0.95]), but not proximal (1.01 [0.80, 1.28]) or distal (0.97 [0.76, 1.24]) colon adenoma risk. An inverse association was observed with histologically advanced (0.72 [0.51, 1.00]) but not non-advanced (1.07 [0.86, 1.33]) adenoma.Conclusions: In this large cohort of younger women, higher adolescent dairy intake was associated with lower rectal and advanced adenoma risk later in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Statins, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, are common lipid-lowering agents and may reduce the risk of several cancer types including pancreatic cancer. However, the association between statin use and pancreatic cancer risk has not been fully evaluated in prospective studies.Methods: We studied the association between statin use and incident pancreatic cancer in 113,059 participants from the prospective Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Statin use was self-reported via study questionnaires and updated biennially. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for incidence of pancreatic cancer were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounders.Results: In total, 583 participants developed incident pancreatic cancer during 1.4 million person-years of follow-up. No difference was identified in pancreatic cancer risk for regular versus non-regular statin users (multivariable-adjusted HR 0.98; 95% CI 0.82-1.16). There was no significant heterogeneity in the association of statin use with pancreatic cancer risk between the cohorts. Similarly, longer duration of regular statin use was not associated with decreased risk of pancreatic cancer (Ptrend = 0.65). The results remained similar when we examined statin use status at baseline or accounting for 4-year latency period. We observed no statistically significant effect modification for the association of statin use with pancreatic cancer risk by body mass index, smoking status, or diabetes mellitus status (all Pinteraction > 0.21).Conclusions: Regular statin use was not associated with pancreatic cancer risk in two large prospective cohort studies in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this prospective pilot study was to investigate the potential of serial FLT-PET/CT compared to FDG-PET/CT to provide an early indication of esophageal cancer response to concurrent neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy.Methods: Five patients with biopsy-proven esophageal adenocarcinomas underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiation (Tx) prior to minimally invasive esophagectomy. The presence of residual tumor was classified histologically using the Mandard et al. criteria, categorizing patients as pathologic responders and non-responders. Participants underwent PET/CT imaging 1 h after intravenous administration of FDG and of FLT on two separate days within 48 h of each other. Each patient underwent a total of 3 scan "pairs": (1) pre-treatment, (2) during treatment, and (3) post-treatment. Image-based response to therapy was measured in terms of changes in SUVmax (ΔSUV) between pre- and post-therapeutic FLT- and FDG-PET scans. The PET imaging findings were correlated with the pathology results after surgery.Results: All tumors were FDG and FLT avid at baseline. Lesion FLT uptake was lower than with FDG. Neoadjuvant chemoradiation resulted in a reduction of tumor uptake of both radiotracers in pathological responders (n = 3) and non-responders (n = 2). While the difference in the reduction in mean tumor FLT uptake during Tx between responders (ΔSUV = - 55%) and non-responders (ΔSUV = - 29%) was significant (P = 0.007), for FDG it was not, [responders had a mean ΔSUV = - 39 vs. - 31% for non-responders (P = 0.74)]. The difference in the reduction in tumor FLT uptake at the end of treatment between responders (ΔSUV = - 62%) and non-responders (ΔSUV = - 57%) was not significant (P = 0.54), while for FDG there was a trend toward significance [ΔSUV of responders = - 74 vs. - 52% in non-responders (P = 0.06)].Conclusion: The results of this prospective pilot study suggest that early changes in tumor FLT uptake may be better than FDG in predicting response of esophageal adenocarcinomas to neoadjuvant chemoradiation. These preliminary results support the need to corroborate the value of FLT-PET/CT in a larger cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background High-level plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] has been associated with lower colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. Considering evidence indicating immunomodulatory effects of vitamin D, we hypothesised that survival benefits from high systemic vitamin D level might be stronger for colorectal carcinoma with lower immune response to tumour. Methods Using 869 colon and rectal cancer cases within the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, we assessed the prognostic association of postdiagnosis 25(OH)D score [derived from diet and lifestyle variables to predict plasma 25(OH)D level] in strata of levels of histopathologic lymphocytic reaction. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was adjusted for potential confounders, including microsatellite instability, CpG island methylator phenotype, LINE-1 methylation, PTGS2 (cyclooxygenase-2) expression and KRAS , BRAF and PIK3CA mutations. Results The association of postdiagnosis 25(OH)D score with colorectal cancer-specific mortality differed by levels of peritumoural lymphocytic reaction (p interaction = 0.001). Multivariable-adjusted mortality hazard ratios for a quintile-unit increase of 25(OH)D score were 0.69 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54–0.89] in cases with negative/low peritumoural lymphocytic reaction, 1.08 (95% CI, 0.93–1.26) in cases with intermediate peritumoural reaction and 1.25 (95% CI, 0.75–2.09) in cases with high peritumoural reaction. The survival association of the 25(OH)D score did not significantly differ by Crohn's-like lymphoid reaction, intratumoural periglandular reaction or tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes. Conclusions The association between the 25(OH)D score and colorectal cancer survival is stronger for carcinomas with lower peritumoural lymphocytic reaction. Our results suggesting interactive effects of vitamin D and immune response may contribute to personalised dietary and lifestyle intervention strategies. Highlights • The survival association of vitamin D is stronger in cancer with fewer lymphocytes. • Vitamin D and peritumoural lymphocytes interact to modify cancer progression. • Vitamin D may exert anti-tumour immune-enhancing effects. • Peritumoural lymphocytic reaction may be a biomarker for benefits from vitamin D. • Our data support immunomodulatory lifestyle interventions for cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]