IARC 60th Anniversary - 19-21 May 2026
Session : 19/05/26 - Posters
Associations between circulating immune protein levels and colorectal cancer risk
VIDMAN L. 1, LEE M. 2, STENLUND M. 1, HARBS J. 1,3, PALMQVIST R. 4, GYLLING B. 4, HARLID S. 1, RENTOFT M. 1, MELIN B. 1, GUNTER M. 5, VIALLON V. 2, VAN GUELPEN B. 1,6
1 Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Oncology, Umeå university, Umeå, Sweden; 2 International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization, Lyon, France; 3 Regional Cancer Centre West, Gothenburg, Sweden; 4 Department of Medical Biosciences, Pathology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; 5 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom; 6 Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Background:
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. Immune and inflammatory processes play central roles in colorectal carcinogenesis and circulating immune-related proteins may provide further insight into systemic immune and inflammatory activity in CRC.
Objectives:
To investigate associations of circulating immune-oncology–related proteins and broader proteomic signatures with the future risk of developing colorectal cancer using high-throughput proteomic profiling.
Methods:
Plasma protein levels were measured using the Olink Target 96 Immuno-Oncology Panel and the Olink Explore 1536 Panel in pre-diagnostic samples from the Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS; n = 697 and n = 195 case-control pairs, respectively) and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) cohort (preliminary n = 710 and n = 220 case-control, respectively). CRC cases were individually matched to controls by age, sex, sub cohort, fasting status and year of blood sampling. The controls had to be cancer free at the time their index case developed CRC. Associations between circulating protein levels and CRC risk were estimated using conditional logistic regression models adjusted for BMI, smoking, education level, alcohol intake and physical activity. Analyses were stratified by tumor location and sex. P-values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Preliminary results:
After pre-processing, protein levels for 92 proteins on the Immuno-Oncology Panel from 607 case-control pairs in the NSHDS cohort were modeled in relation to CRC risk. Four proteins were significantly associated with CRC, KIR3DL1 and IL2 (inverse) and MMP7 and ARG1(positive). Stratified analyses suggested potential heterogeneity by sex and tumor subsite, as no significant proteins overlapped between men and women or between proximal and distal colon cancer.
Conclusions:
This study identified associations between circulating immune-related proteins and future CRC risk, with indications of heterogeneity across sex- and subsite. Ongoing work includes replication of these findings in the EPIC cohort and to expand analyses to the Explore panel which captures a greater number of proteins from diverse pathways. Results from the two cohorts will be meta-analyzed.