Incidence of seven cancers according to metabolic profile

A growing number of studies suggest links between circulating metabolites and cancer risk, but causality remains largely unexplored. In this Mendelian randomization analysis, researchers looked for causal links between the risk of seven cancers (breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, testicular cancer) and genetically predicted levels of 913 plasma metabolites. In total, the analyses revealed 94 significant associations, suggesting causal links between 66 plasma metabolites and the risk of 7 cancers. Of these, 68.2% of metabolites were associated with a specific cancer risk. Two metabolites in particular were strongly associated with cancer risk: O-methylcatechol sulfate and 4-vinylphenol sulfate.