Associations between serum soluble transferrin receptor and the prevalence of cancers

Yuzhuo Zhang; Nianci Xue; Wenyu Jia; Xikang Chen; Xuezhang Chen; Hongliang Li; Bin Wang; Yi Guo; Ju Chen; Huaqin Tian

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.1039930

Associations between serum soluble transferrin receptor and the prevalence of cancers

Front Oncol. 2022 Dec 8:12:1039930. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1039930. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yuzhuo Zhang^{1

2}, Nianci Xue³, Wenyu Jia^{1

2}, Xikang Chen^{1

2}, Xuezhang Chen^{1

2}, Hongliang Li^{1

2}, Bin Wang^{1

2}, Yi Guo^{1

2}, Ju Chen^{1

2}, Huaqin Tian^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The 8th Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Foshan, China.
² Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
³ The Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Background: As increasing experimental evidence suggests that iron metabolism play crucial roles in cancer and non-cancer conditions, there is a lack of data on serum soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), a promising marker representing unmet cellular iron demands, between cancer risk from epidemiological studies. Here, we aimed to evaluate the predictive value of sTfR and cancer prevalence.

Materials and methods: We analyzed on 5,480 adult participants from 2015 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Spearman correlation analysis was performed to investigate the correlations between sTfR and other characteristics. To identify the associations between sTfR and the prevalence of cancers, stratified multivariable logistic regression models, subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also performed.

Results: In tertile analyses, participants in the highest level of sTfR were significantly associated with increased prevalence of total cancers [odds ratio (OR) = 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15-2.02] as compared with those at the lowest tertile. Each unit increment in ln-transformed sTfR concentration was shown to be associated with 39% increased risks of total cancers. Similar associations were found in males rather than females. Further subgroup and sensitivity analyses indicated that, in continuous and tertile analyses, sTfR was more closely associated with male- and female-specific cancers of prostate and testis (2.35: 1.03-5.40; 2.03: 1.00-4.09; respectively), and breast, cervix, ovary and uterus (1.92: 1.11-3.35; 1.66: 1.02-2.69; respectively).

Conclusions: Our findings suggested that elevated level of sTfR was associated with the prevalence of cancers, especially in sex-specific cancers. In order to better determine them, further research in humans will be required.

Keywords: NHANES; biomarker; cancer; cross-section study; serum soluble transferrin receptor.