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Endogenous hormones, inflammation, and body size in premenopausal Mexican women: results from the Mexican Teachers’ Cohort (MTC, ESMaestras)

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Abstract

Purpose

Obesity is a major risk factor for several cancers, including female cancers. Endogenous hormones and inflammatory factors may mediate the association between anthropometric measures and cancer risk, although these associations have been studied mainly in Caucasians. The aim of the current study was to explore the association of circulating hormones, adipokines, and inflammatory factors with obesity and overweight in premenopausal Mexican women.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 504 premenopausal women from the large Mexican Teachers’ Cohort (MTC, ESMaestras) study to determine the association of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), its major circulating binding protein (IGFBP-3), leptin, adiponectin, C-peptide, and C-reactive protein with comprehensive measures of body size. Biomarkers were measured by immunoassays. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to compare geometric mean biomarker concentrations with measured markers of body size and adiposity.

Results

Mean IGF-I and IGFBP-3 concentrations significantly increased with increasing height and leg length. Concentrations of IGF-I, adiponectin, and the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio strongly decreased with increasing BMI, weight, waist and hip circumferences, waist-to-hip ratio (WHpR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), while CRP, leptin, C-peptide concentrations, and the leptin/adiponectin ratio strongly increased. Adiponectin and the leptin/adiponectin ratio remained significantly related to measures of central adiposity (waist circumference, WHpR, and WHtR) after adjustment by body mass index.

Conclusions

The results of our study suggest a strong relation between biomarkers and body size in this study population and suggest that different fat depots may have different metabolic properties.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ms Beatrice Vozar for her help with the handling of the biological samples, the ESMaestras-MTCs women for their participating in the study, and the American Institute for Cancer Research, CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, México), and the Ministry of Health of Mexico, AVON, Banorte, for support. Research relating to this manuscript was funded by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) (Grant # 10A035), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT) (Grant # 115312). Ministry of Health Mexico, Avon Cosmetics, Fundación Banorte and Fundación Gruma.

Conflict of interest

None disclosed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France

    Sabina Rinaldi, Carine Biessy, Maria de la Luz Hernandez & Isabelle Romieu

  2. Center for Research on Population Health, National Institute of Public Health, 7a. Cerrada de Fray Pedro de Gante #50, Col. Sección XVI Tlalpan C.P., 14080, Mexico City, Mexico

    Martin Lajous, Eduardo Ortiz-Panozo, Elsa Yunes, Ruy Lopez-Ridaura & Gabriela Torres-Mejia

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Martin Lajous

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  1. Sabina Rinaldi
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  2. Carine Biessy
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Correspondence to Ruy Lopez-Ridaura.

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Rinaldi, S., Biessy, C., de la Luz Hernandez, M. et al. Endogenous hormones, inflammation, and body size in premenopausal Mexican women: results from the Mexican Teachers’ Cohort (MTC, ESMaestras). Cancer Causes Control 26, 475–486 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-015-0527-2

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