Abstract A43: Dietary advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and breast cancer in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO)
Authors: Omofuma Omonefe O. , Turner David P. , Peterson Lindsay L. , Merchant Anwar T. , Zhang Jiajia , Steck Susan E. 
Published: June 2022

Introduction: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are implicated in chronic diseases and cancer. AGEs are produced endogenously but can also be consumed in foods. AGE formation in food is accelerated during cooking at high temperatures. The objective of the study is to assign and quantify dietary AGE (dAGE) content in food and investigate the association between dAGE intake and breast cancer risk in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO).

Methods: The PLCO enrolled women aged 55 to 74 years into a randomized controlled trial examining various cancer screening modalities. In this prospective analysis, the study sample included only women enrolled in the intervention arm who were cancer-free at baseline and completed a baseline questionnaire and food frequency questionnaire (DQX) (n=28,127). dAGE values were assigned and quantified to foods in the DQX using a published AGE database. Descriptive analysis was used to obtain means and percentages while Pearson correlation was used to obtain correlation coefficient of dAGE intake with dietary factors linked to AGEs.

Results: After a median 11.6 years of follow-up, 1,642 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. The average dAGE consumption among all the women was 11,355 KU/day (SD: 6614 KU/day) and ranged between 715 and 87,129 KU/day. A higher proportion of overweight and obese women, African American women, and women who were diagnosed with breast cancer during follow-up were in the higher quintile of dAGE intake as compared to the lowest quintile. Significant positive correlations were observed between dAGE intake and dietary sources of animal protein (0.74), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (0.83), polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (0.70), and saturated fatty acids (SF) (0.83), while the correlations between dAGE and fructose (0.12), carbohydrates (0.39), and plant protein (0.40) were weaker.

Conclusion: A higher proportion of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer during follow-up were in the highest quintile of dAGE intake at baseline compared to the lowest quintile. The strong positive correlation observed between dAGE and fat and protein intake reflects the high AGE levels found in meats, especially those cooked at high temperatures. Further analyses using Cox proportional hazards will be conducted examining the association between dAGE intake and breast cancer risk.

Citation Format: Omonefe O. Omofuma, David P. Turner, Lindsay L. Peterson, Anwar T. Merchant, Jiajia Zhang, Susan E. Steck. Dietary advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and breast cancer in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Environmental Carcinogenesis: Potential Pathway to Cancer Prevention; 2019 Jun 22-24; Charlotte, NC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2020;13(7 Suppl): Abstract nr A43.