Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jan 14;14(1):e0208610.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208610. eCollection 2019.

Iron levels, genes involved in iron metabolism and antioxidative processes and lung cancer incidence

Grzegorz Mariusz Sukiennicki  1 , Wojciech Marciniak  2 , Magdalena Muszyńska  2 , Piotr Baszuk  1 , Satish Gupta  3 , Katarzyna Białkowska  1 , Katarzyna Jaworska-Bieniek  1 , Katarzyna Durda  1 , Marcin Lener  1 , Sandra Pietrzak  1 , Tomasz Gromowski  1 , Karolina Prajzendanc  1 , Alicja Łukomska  1 , Piotr Waloszczyk  4 , Janusz Zenon Wójcik  5 , Rodney Scott  6   7 , Jan Lubiński  1   2 , Anna Jakubowska  1   8
Affiliations

Iron levels, genes involved in iron metabolism and antioxidative processes and lung cancer incidence

Grzegorz Mariusz Sukiennicki et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is the most common adult malignancy accounting for the largest proportion of cancer related deaths. Iron (Fe) is an essential trace element and is a component of several major metabolic pathways playing an important role in many physiological processes. In this study we evaluated the association between Fe concentration in serum, iron metabolism parameters and genetic variaton in 7 genes involved in iron metabolism and anti-oxidative processes with the incidence of lung cancer in Poland.

Materials and methods: The study included 200 lung cancer patients and 200 matched healthy control subjects. We analyzed serum iron concentration and iron metabolism parameters (TIBC, UIBC, serum ferritin and transferrin saturation), and genotyped seven variants in seven genes: HFE, TFR1, HAMP, TF, SOD2, CAT and GPX1.

Results: Lung cancer patients compared to their matched controls had significantly higher mean serum iron level (p = 0.01), ferritin level (p = 0.007) and TIBC (p = 0.006). Analysis revealed that higher concentration of iron and ferritin (IVth quartile) compared to the lower concentration (Ist quartile) was associated with over 2-fold increased lung cancer incidence. We also found that higher transferrin saturation (p = 0.01) and lower TIBC (p<0.01) are associated with better survival of lung cancer patients. The analysis of polymorphisms in iron related genes did not reveal a significant difference between lung cancer patients and controls. However, rs10421768 in HAMP showed a borderline statistically significant correlation with lung cancer risk (OR = 2.83, p = 0.05).

Conclusions: The results of this case control study indicate that higher body iron represented by higher Fe and ferritin levels may be associated with lung cancer incidence. Rs10421768 in HAMP may be associated with about 3-times higher lung cancer risk. Higher Fe body content may be associated with better survival of lung cancer patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: The authors WM, MM, and JL are employed by Read-Gene S.A.; SG is employed by Strand Life Sciences; and PW is employed by an Independent Laboratory of Pathology. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Howlader N, Noone AM, Krapcho M, Miller D, Bishop K, Kosary CL, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975–2014, National Cancer Institute; Bethesda, MD, https://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2014/, based on November 2016 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, April 2017.
    1. Shen H, Wei Q, Pillow PC, Amos CI, Hong WK, Spitz MR. Dietaryfolate intake and lung cancer risk in former smokers: a case-control analysis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2003;12(10):980–986. - PubMed
    1. Toyokuni S. Role of iron in carcinogenesis: cancer as a ferrotoxic disease. Cancer Sci. 2009;100:9–16. 10.1111/j.1349-7006.2008.01001.x - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lipiński P, Starzyński RR, Gajowiak A, Staroń R, Styś A. Metabolizm żelaza- stan wiedzy 2014. Kosmos. 2014; 63(304):299–308.
    1. Knekt P, Reunanen A, Takkunen H, Aromaa A, Heliovaara M, Hakulinen T. Body iron stores and risk of cancer. Int J Cancer. 1994;56:379–382. - PubMed

Publication types