All Life (Dec 2023)

Associations between genetically predicted plasma N-glycans and pancreatic cancer risk

  • Duo Liu,
  • Tianying Zhao,
  • Jingjing Zhu,
  • Sodbo Sharapov,
  • Evgeny Tiys,
  • Lang Wu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/26895293.2023.2248402
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1

Abstract

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Objectives: Previous studies have suggested a potential link between glycan levels and pancreatic cancer. To better characterize this relationship, we performed a study to evaluate the association between genetically predicted N-glycan levels in plasma and pancreatic cancer risk. Methods: Using genetic variants identified to be associated with plasma N-glycan levels in large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) as instruments, we evaluated the associations between plasma N-glycans and pancreatic cancer risk by analyzing data from 8275 pancreatic cancer cases and 6723 controls. Results: We observed that lower predicted PGP110 levels were significantly associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer after adjusting for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: Our study did not support strong associations between human plasma N-glycans and the risk of pancreatic cancer, although the observed association with PGP110 warrants further investigation. Simple summary Objectives: Pancreatic cancer is a fatal malignancy. Therefore, there is an urgent need to better understand its risk factors and identify markers for better predicting individual risk of developing this cancer. Previous research has suggested that glycans may play a role in the development of pancreatic cancer. To better understand their relationship, we conducted a study to assess the associations between N-glycan levels predicted by genetic factors and pancreatic cancer risk. Methods: We used genetic factors related to blood N-glycan levels as instruments. We further evaluated the associations between plasma N-glycans and pancreatic cancer risk by analyzing data from 8275 pancreatic cancer patients and 6723 controls. Results: We only observed one association between predicted levels of PGP110 and pancreatic cancer risk. Conclusions: Our study did not support strong associations between N-glycan levels and pancreatic cancer risk, although the observed association with PGP110 can be further studied.

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