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. 2024 Jun 15;154(12):2064-2074.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.34872. Epub 2024 Feb 15.

Circulating endogenous sex steroids and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in men and women

Sabina Rinaldi  1 , Laure Dossus  1 , Pekka Keski-Rahkonen  1 , Agneta Kiss  1 , Anne-Sophie Navionis  1 , Carine Biessy  1 , Ruth Travis  2 , Elisabete Weiderpass  1 , Isabelle Romieu  3 , Anne Kirstine Eriksen  4 , Anne Tjonneland  4   5 , Marina Kvaskoff  6 , Marianne Canonico  6 , Thérèse Truong  6 , Verena Katzke  7 , Rudolf Kaaks  7 , Alberto Catalano  8 , Salvatore Panico  9 , Giovanna Masala  10 , Rosario Tumino  11 , Marko Lukic  12 , Karina Standahl Olsen  12 , Raul Zamora-Ros  13 , Carmen Santiuste  14   15 , Amaia Aizpurua Atxega  16   17 , Marcela Guevara  15   18   19 , Miguel Rodriguez-Barranco  15   20   21 , Maria Sandstrom  22 , Joakim Hennings  23 , Martin Almquist  24   25 , Elom Aglago Kouassivi  26 , Sofia Christakoudi  26   27 , Marc Gunter  1 , Silvia Franceschi  28
Affiliations

Circulating endogenous sex steroids and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in men and women

Sabina Rinaldi et al. Int J Cancer. .

Abstract

Thyroid cancer (TC) is substantially more common in women than in men, pointing to a possible role of sex steroid hormones. We investigated the association between circulating sex steroid hormones, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and the risk of differentiated TC in men and women within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC) cohort. During follow-up, we identified 333 first primary incident cases of differentiated TC (152 in pre/peri-menopausal women, 111 in post-menopausal women, and 70 in men) and 706 cancer-free controls. Women taking exogenous hormones at blood donation were excluded. Plasma concentrations of testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone, estradiol, estrone and progesterone (in pre-menopausal women only) were performed using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry method. SHBG concentrations were measured by immunoassay. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated using conditional logistic regression models adjusted for possible confounders. No significant associations were observed in men and postmenopausal women, while a borderline significant increase in differentiated TC risk was observed with increasing testosterone (adjusted OR T3 vs T1: 1.68, 95% CI: 0.96-2.92, ptrend = .06) and androstenedione concentrations in pre/perimenopausal women (adjusted OR T3 vs T1: 1.78, 95% CI: 0.96-3.30, ptrend = .06, respectively). A borderline decrease in risk was observed for the highest progesterone/estradiol ratio (adjusted OR T3 vs T1: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.28-1.05, ptrend = .07). Overall, our results do not support a major role of circulating sex steroids in the etiology of differentiated TC in post-menopausal women and men but may suggest an involvement of altered sex steroid production in pre-menopausal women.

Keywords: differentiated thyroid cancer; prospective study; sex steroids.

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