In:
Frontiers in Nutrition, Frontiers Media SA, Vol. 11 ( 2024-7-17)
Abstract:
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been widely studied and used as nutritional supplements because of their anti-inflammatory effects. Previous studies have shown an association between polyunsaturated fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs with the development of malignant tumors. However, the relationships of omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs with esophageal diseases have not been characterized. Methods Mendelian randomization (MR) is a statistical method for identifying instrumental variables (IVs) from genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, and is associated with little confounding by environmental or other disease-related factors. We used genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from previously published studies on circulating concentrations of omega-3, omega-6, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and linoleic acid (LA), as well as esophageal cancer and other esophageal diseases, which were downloaded from the IEU OpenGwas database ( https://gwas.mrcieu.ac.uk/ ) and the GWAS Catalog database ( https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ ). The inverse variance-weighted approach was used as the principal analysis, and the MR–Egger and weighted median methods were used alongside. A series of sensitivity analyses were used to ensure the robustness of the causality estimates. Results We found that the circulating omega-3 PUFAs concentration was positively associated with esophageal cancer ( p = 8 × 10 −4 ), and circulating DHA concentration (the main component of omega-3 in food), was also positively associated with esophageal cancer ( p = 2 × 10 −2 ), but no significant association was found between circulating omega-6 PUFAs and esophageal cancer ( p = 0.17), and circulating LA concentration (the main component of omega-6 in food), was also no significant associated with esophageal cancer ( p = 0.32). We found no significant relationships of circulating omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs concentration with four other esophageal diseases. Conclusion This study indicates that higher levels of circulating omega-3 PUFAs and DHA concentrations may be a risk factor for the development of esophageal cancer. Conversely, an increased omega-6/omega-3 ratio may serve as a protective factor against esophageal cancer. These findings have significant implications for the clinical application of omega-3 PUFAs and the prevention and treatment of esophageal cancer.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2296-861X
DOI:
10.3389/fnut.2024.1408647
DOI:
10.3389/fnut.2024.1408647.s001
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
Frontiers Media SA
Publication Date:
2024
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2776676-7
