Association between increased C-reactive protein and cardiovascular disease among patients with rectal cancer

Huimin Qiao; Changxin Wang; Chunhong Yang; Lei Lei; Yijing Chen; Yun Luo; Xiangfu Zeng; You Guo

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1287619

Association between increased C-reactive protein and cardiovascular disease among patients with rectal cancer

Front Oncol. 2023 Nov 22:13:1287619. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1287619. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Huimin Qiao^{1

2}, Changxin Wang³, Chunhong Yang⁴, Lei Lei^{1

5}, Yijing Chen^{1

2}, Yun Luo¹, Xiangfu Zeng³, You Guo¹

Affiliations

¹ Medical Big Data and Bioinformatics Research Centre, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
² School of Public Health and Health Management, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
³ Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
⁴ Studies Section, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Cardiology, Luotian County People's Hospital, Huanggang, China.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the association between increased C-reactive protein (CRP) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals with rectal cancer, as well as to understand the effect of chemotherapy for cancer on increasing CRP and its underlying mechanisms.

Patients and methods: From January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2020, individuals with rectal cancer were evaluated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University. Then, in patients with rectal cancer, the relationship between increased CRP and CVD attributes was summarized, and the impact of chemotherapy on CRP levels was qualitatively assessed. For further investigation into potential regulatory mechanisms of CRP, differentially expressed genes (DEGs), GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were conducted.

Results: A total of 827 individuals were included in the study, including 175 with CVD (21.16%) and 652 without CVD. A significant association between increased CRP and CVD events was observed in rectal cancer patients (p < 0.01), and it significantly improved the classification performance of the CVD predictive model in the AUC (0.724 vs 0.707) and NRI (0.069, 95% CI 0.05-0.14). Furthermore, a comparison of CRP levels before and after chemotherapy revealed a significant increase among rectal cancers post-treatment (p < 0.001). Analysis of differentially expressed genes and co-expression indicated that 96 DEGs were involved in the pathophysiology of increased CRP after chemotherapy, and three hub genes were implicated in atherosclerotic susceptibility.

Conclusion: In conclusion, our findings indicated that increased CRP levels following chemotherapy profoundly impacted CVD events in individuals with rectal cancer, and may be beneficial in promoting CVD prediction in clinical practice.

Keywords: C-reactive protein; cardiovascular disease; chemotherapy; inflammation; rectal cancer.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 82060618), the Key Research and Development Program of Jiangxi Province (20203BBGL73184), Doctoral Fund of First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Science and Technology Research Project of Jiangxi Province Department of Education (GJJ211549).