Family history of esophageal cancer increases the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 16038
• Main Authors: Chen, Tiantian, Cheng, Hongwei, Chen, Xingdong, Yuan, Ziyu, Yang, Xiaorong, Zhuang, Maoqiang, Lu, Ming, Jin, Li, Ye, Weimin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03.11.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/4028/67/2324; 692/499; Aged; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - genetics; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Case-Control Studies; Cohort Studies; Esophageal cancer; Esophageal Neoplasms - genetics; Esophageal Neoplasms - metabolism; Esophageal Neoplasms - pathology; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; Esophagus; Family; Family medical history; Female; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Health risk assessment; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Odds Ratio; Proportional Hazards Models; Risk Factors; Science; Squamous cell carcinoma
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep16038

A population-based case-control was performed to explore familial aggregation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Family history of cancer was assessed by a structured questionnaire and from which 2 cohorts of relatives of cases and controls were reconstructed. Unconditional logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression were applied for case-control design and reconstructed cohort design, respectively. We observed a close to doubled risk of ESCC associated with a positive family history of esophageal cancer among first degree relatives (odds ratio [OR] = 1.85, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.42–2.41), after adjusting age, sex, family size and other confounders. The excess risks of ESCC increased with the increasing of first-degree relatives affected by esophageal cancer (p < 0.001). In particular, those individuals whose both parents with esophageal cancer had an 8-fold excess risk of ESCC (95% CI: 1.74–36.32). The reconstructed cohort analysis showed that the cumulative risk of esophageal cancer to age 75 was 12.2% in the first-degree relatives of cases and 7.0% in those of controls (hazard ratio = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.54–2.37). Our results suggest family history of esophageal cancer significantly increases the risk for ESCC. Future studies are needed to understand how the shared genetic susceptibility and/or environmental exposures contribute to the observed excess risk.