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Cancer risks in patients with vitiligo: a Mendelian randomization study

  • Original Article – Cancer Research
  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Few studies have investigated the relationship between vitiligo and risks of various types of cancers, especially those other than skin cancer. Conventional observational studies are susceptible to potential confounders and inverse causation. With a Mendelian randomization approach, we were able to evaluate the causality between vitiligo and different cancer risks.

Methods

37 vitiligo-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms identified by the published genome-wide association studies were used as instrumental variables in our study. Summary data of individual-level genetic information were obtained from corresponding studies and cancer consortia. A total of 246,706 cases and 1,021,154 controls were included. The inverse variance-weighted method was applied to estimate the causation between vitiligo and different cancers.

Results

The results revealed that vitiligo patients were at lower risks of lung cancer [odds ratio (OR) 0.9513; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9174–0.9864; p = 0.0070], breast cancer (OR 0.9827; 95% CI 0.9659–0.9997; p = 0.0468), ovarian cancer (OR 0.9474; 95% CI 0.9271–0.9682; p < 0.001), melanoma (OR 0.9983; 95% CI 0.9976–0.9990; p < 0.001), non-melanoma skin cancer (OR 0.9997; 95% CI 0.9995–0.9999; p < 0.001), kidney cancer (OR 0.9998; 95% CI 0.9996–1.0000; p = 0.0212), and liver cancer (OR 0.9999; 95% CI 0.9999–1.0000; p = 0.0441), while no correlation was observed for other cancer types.

Conclusions

Vitiligo was causally associated with reduced risks of several cancers, suggesting that vitiligo-associated autoimmune process might play a role in the suppression of cancer.

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Availability of data and material

The data sets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The computer code generated and/or analyzed during the current study is not publicly available, but is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence interval

GWASs:

Genome-wide association studies

ILCCO:

International Lung Cancer Consortium

IVW:

Inverse variance-weighted

MR:

Mendelian randomization

OR:

Odds ratio

SNP:

Single-nucleotide polymorphism

NMSC:

Non-melanoma skin cancer

SIRs:

Standard incidence ratios

IVs:

Instrumental variables

LD:

Linkage disequilibrium

OCAC:

Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium

BCAC:

Breast Cancer Association Consortium

PRACTICAL:

Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer Associated Alterations in the Genome

CTLs:

Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes

IFN-γ:

Interferon gamma

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [2016YFC0905400]; China National Science Foundation [81871893, 81501996]; Key Project of Guangzhou Scientific Research Project [201804020030]; High-level university construction project of Guangzhou Medical University [20182737, 201721007, 201715907, 2017160107]; IVATS National key R&D Program [2017YFC0907903, 2017YFC0112704]; and Application, industrialization and generalization of surgical incision protector [2011B090400589]. The authors acknowledge the efforts of the consortia in providing high-quality GWAS resources for researchers. Data and material are available from corresponding GWAS consortium. The authors also thank Ms. Lindsey Hamblin for helping to edit the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Yaokai Wen, Xiangrong Wu, Haoxin Peng and Caichen Li have contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Thoracic Surgery and Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Yaokai Wen, Xiangrong Wu, Haoxin Peng, Caichen Li, Yu Jiang, Hengrui Liang, Ran Zhong, Jun Liu, Jianxing He & Wenhua Liang MD

  2. State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Yaokai Wen, Xiangrong Wu, Haoxin Peng, Caichen Li, Yu Jiang, Hengrui Liang, Ran Zhong, Jun Liu, Jianxing He & Wenhua Liang MD

  3. National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Yaokai Wen, Xiangrong Wu, Haoxin Peng, Caichen Li, Yu Jiang, Hengrui Liang, Ran Zhong, Jun Liu, Jianxing He & Wenhua Liang MD

  4. Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Yaokai Wen, Xiangrong Wu, Haoxin Peng, Caichen Li, Yu Jiang, Hengrui Liang, Ran Zhong, Jun Liu, Jianxing He & Wenhua Liang MD

  5. Nanshan School, Guangzhou Medical University, Jingxiu Road, Panyu District, Guangzhou, 511436, China

    Yaokai Wen, Xiangrong Wu, Haoxin Peng & Yu Jiang

Authors
  1. Yaokai Wen
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  2. Xiangrong Wu
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  3. Haoxin Peng
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  8. Jun Liu
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  9. Jianxing He
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  10. Wenhua Liang MD
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Contributions

YW and WL were responsible for the concept and design of the study, interpretation of data, and drafting and writing of the article. The other authors were responsible for interpretation of data and revision of the intellectual content. All authors participated in final approval of the article and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jianxing He or Wenhua Liang MD.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

There are no patients involved in our study design, recruitment or research conduction, and thus, there is no need for ethical approval. No patient was asked to make recommendations about the interpretation or writing of the results. There are no plans to disseminate the results of the study to study participants or relevant patient communities. Thus, there is no need for informed consent in our study.

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Wen, Y., Wu, X., Peng, H. et al. Cancer risks in patients with vitiligo: a Mendelian randomization study. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 146, 1933–1940 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03245-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03245-3

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