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High Serum Selenium and Reduced Risk of Advanced Colorectal Adenoma in a Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Program

¹ Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville Maryland; ² Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle, Washington; ³ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ⁴ Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota; ⁵ Department of Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama; ⁶ Dartmouth Trace Element Analysis Core Facility, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; ⁷ Institute of Analytical Chemistry, The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen, Denmark; and ⁸ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Requests for reprints: Ulrike Peters, Cancer Prevention Research Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Research, P.O. Box 19024, 1100 Fairview Avenue North M4-B402, Seattle, WA 98109-1024. Phone: 206-667-2450; Fax: 206-667-7850. E-mail: upeters{at}fhcrc.org

Background: Epidemiologic and animal studies suggest that selenium may reduce risk of colorectal cancer. However, the epidemiologic data is mainly from relatively small investigations, limiting their interpretation. Although substantial evidence suggests that smoking is a strong effect modifier for other antioxidative nutrients, little is known about smoking-selenium interactions in colorectal tumors.

Methods: We studied the association of serum selenium and advanced colorectal adenoma, a cancer precursor, in 758 cases and 767 sex- and race-matched controls, randomly selected from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Cases had at least one verified advanced adenoma (1 cm or villous elements, or high-grade dysplasia) of the distal colon, and controls had a negative sigmoidoscopy.

Results: The multivariable odds ratio (OR) comparing participants in the highest quintile of serum selenium with those in the lowest quintile was 0.76 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.53-1.10; P_trend = 0.01]. The inverse association between serum selenium and advanced colorectal adenoma was significant among recent smokers (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.27-1.01 for highest versus lowest tertile; P_trend = 0.008). Serum selenium was unrelated to adenoma risk in nonsmokers and former smokers who quit smoking 10 years ago.

Conclusion: Selenium may reduce the risk of developing advanced colorectal adenoma, particularly among the high-risk group of recent smokers. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(2):315–20)

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				U. Peters, N. Chatterjee, R. B. Hayes, R. E. Schoen, Y. Wang, S. J. Chanock, and C. B. Foster Variation in the Selenoenzyme Genes and Risk of Advanced Distal Colorectal Adenoma Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., May 1, 2008; 17(5): 1144 - 1154. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]