Serum selenium level and cancer risk: a nested case-control study

Steven A Narod,Tomasz Huzarski,Marcin Lener,Wojciech Marciniak,Katarzyna Jaworska-Bieniek,Jacek Gronwald,Joanne Kotsopoulos,Magdalena Muszyńska,Jan Lubiński,Tadeusz Dębniak,Katarzyna Białkowska,Anna Jakubowska,Grzegorz Sukiennicki,Oleg Oszurek,Ping Sun,Cezary Cybulski

doi:10.1186/s13053-019-0131-7

Abstract

BackgroundEpidemiologic studies have demonstrated a relationship between selenium status and cancer risk among those with low selenium levels. It is of interest to prospectively evaluate the relationship between selenium and cancer among women who reside in a region with ubiquitously low selenium levels.MethodsWe performed a nested case-control study of baseline serum selenium levels and cancer risk using data and biological samples from 19,573 females that were participants in a biobanking initiative between 2010 and 2014 in Szczecin Poland. Cases included women with any incident cancer (n = 97) and controls (n = 184) were women with no cancer at baseline or follow-up. Serum selenium was quantified using mass spectroscopy.ResultsThe odds ratio associated being below the cutoff of 70.0 μg/L compared to a level above 70.0 μg/L was 2.29 (95% CI 1.26–4.19; P = 0.007). The risks for women in the two middle categories were similar and suggests that the normal range be between 70 μg/L and 90 μg/L. There was evidence for an increased risk of cancer among women in the highest category of selenium levels (i.e., > 90 μg/L), but this association did not achieve statistical significance (OR = 1.63; 95%CI 0.63–4.19; P = 0.31).ConclusionsResults from this study suggest that suggest that the optimum serum level of selenium in women living in Poland should be between 70 μg/L and 90 μg/L.

Highlights

Selenium is an essential trace element with numerous health-related functions [1]
North American countries [1, 14, 15]. These findings provide provocative preliminary evidence to support a potential beneficial effect of selenium supplementation in individuals with low selenium status residing in regions with low selenium levels, one limitation of these case-control studies was the retrospective nature of the analyses, whereby the assessment of selenium status in the blood followed the diagnosis of cancer
The goal of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between serum selenium levels and subsequent cancer risk in a large cohort of women followed for incident cases of cancer in Szczecin Poland, using a nested case-control study design

Summary

Introduction

Selenium is an essential trace element with numerous health-related functions [1]. It has been proposed that selenium has cancer preventive properties, due the role of this nutrient as a cofactor of several antioxidant enzymes [1, 2]. North American countries [1, 14, 15] These findings provide provocative preliminary evidence to support a potential beneficial effect of selenium supplementation in individuals with low selenium status residing in regions with low selenium levels, one limitation of these case-control studies was the retrospective nature of the analyses, whereby the assessment of selenium status in the blood followed the diagnosis of cancer. It is of interest to establish, in a prospective study, if selenium status prior to a cancer diagnosis has an effect on cancer risk in women in a country with ubiquitously low selenium levels. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between serum selenium levels and subsequent cancer risk in a large cohort of women followed for incident cases of cancer in Szczecin Poland, using a nested case-control study design. It is of interest to prospectively evaluate the relationship between selenium and cancer among women who reside in a region with ubiquitously low selenium levels

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Conclusion