Association of serum lipids and severity of epithelial ovarian cancer: an observational cohort study of 349 Chinese patients

Abstract

While obesity and fat intake have been associated with the risk and prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer, the association between the lipid levels and epithelial ovarian cancer phenotype remains controversial. We conducted a retrospective study of 349 epithelial ovarian cancer patients who received treatment at Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, China between 2011 and 2017. We analyzed age at diagnosis, blood pressure, plasma glucose content, body mass index (BMI), lipid levels and clinical parameters. Severity of epithelial ovarian cancer was classified according to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) grading system. Univariate analysis of the clinical factors according to the severity of epithelial ovarian cancer was followed by logistic regression analysis to identify clinical factors significantly associated with epithelial ovarian cancer severity. Univariate analysis indicated that age, BMI, triglyceride (TG), and high density lipoproteins (HDL) differed significantly among different stages of epithelial ovarian cancer (P<0.05). In the logistic regression model, elevated TG (OR: 1.883; 95% CI= 1.207–2.937), and low HDL (OR: 0.497; 95% CI= 0.298–0.829) levels were significantly associated with the high severity epithelial ovarian cancer. Our data indicate that high TG and low HDL levels correlate with a high severity of epithelial ovarian cancer. These data provide important insight into the potential relationship between the lipid pathway and epithelial ovarian cancer phenotype and development.

Causal Effects of Circulating Lipid Traits on Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

“…The mixed study conducted by Zhang et al [12] found an association between high HDL and lower OC risk, in agreement with the finding of an association between HDL and malignant OC by Onwuka JU [11]. Low HDL levels were also shown to correlate with the high severity of EOC [10], while high HDL levels showed a significant association with better progression-free survival (PFS) of EOC patients [23]. The HDL-associated serum paraoxonase activity and arylesterase activity were also significantly lower in patients with EOC than in controls [24].…”

“…However, a retrospective study that included 267 cases showed an independent association between increased preoperative LDL levels and improved 5-year recurrencefree survival [31]. Several studies have demonstrated that LDL, APOA1, and APOB showed no significant association with OC [10][11][12]14,23,32]. In the present study, no causal role was found for LDL, APOA1, or APOB regarding the subtypes of EOC.…”

“…As with HDL, TG has also been associated with OC. For example, Zhang et al [10] found a significant association between elevated TG levels and high severity of EOC. Another study found that blood TG levels at clinically relevant cut-off points (>200 vs. ≤200 mg/dL) for cases diagnosed for more than 2 years showed a positive relationship with EOC risk [26].…”

“…In recent years, an association has been documented between OC and circulating lipids in several epidemiological observational studies. One observational cohort study showed that elevated levels of triglyceride (TG) and low high-density lipoproteins (HDL) were significantly associated with a high severity of EOC [10]. Similarly, a meta-analysis study found a link between decreased HDL profiles and OC manifestations and growth [11].…”

MicroRNA-Regulated Ubiquitination and Lipid Metabolism Networks are Associated with Chemotherapy Response in Ovarian Cancer

“…Finally, cis-eQTL analysis identi ed known and novel genomic variants correlated with the expression of mRNAs and miRNAs, which are associated with lipid-related phenotypes. High HDL and triglyceride levels have been correlated with increased cancer stage at diagnosis in OC patients 48 . In addition, advanced-stage OC patients with high LDL levels have a shorter PFS than patients with normal levels 49 .…”