Abstract 733: Relationship between pre-diagnostic biomarkers and sarcopenia in colorectal cancer patients
Authors: Färdeman Johannes , Gylling Björn , Palmqvist Richard , Axelsson Jan , Riklund Katrine , Harlid Sophia , Van Guelpen Bethany 
Published: April 2023

To gain further understanding of why some colorectal cancer patients develop sarcopenia (loss of skeletal muscle mass) we conducted a study of metabolic and inflammatory markers in pre-diagnostic samples from a well-defined patient cohort. The study population included 755 colorectal cancer patients from population-based prospective cohorts in northern Sweden. Eleven markers were measured in plasma samples collected prior to diagnosis (median 10.1 years), and their relation to sarcopenia at diagnosis (median 7 days before surgery) was assessed. The markers included were adiponectin, total cholesterol, C-peptide, CRP, acyl ghrelin, insulin, leptin, PYY, triglycerides and plasma glucose (both fasting and 2 hours after oral glucose tolerance test). Patients were classified as either sarcopenic or non-sarcopenic based on skeletal muscle index from peri-diagnostic CT scans. Skeletal muscle index was calculated by segmentation of skeletal muscle area at the transaxial level of the third lumbar vertebrae, adjusted to body height. Due to sex differences in muscle mass, all calculations were performed separately in men and women. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate associations between pre-diagnostic biomarker concentrations and the risk of sarcopenia. We made adjustment for plausible confounders including age at sampling, smoking, alcohol consumption, energy intake, physical activity, and pre-diagnostic body mass index (BMI). Our preliminary results indicate an association between higher pre-diagnostic cholesterol levels and increased risk of sarcopenia in men (age-adjusted odds ratio 1.30 95% CI 1.06 - 1.59), but not women. This association remained after adjusting for potential confounders. In women, higher levels of adiponectin were associated with an increased sarcopenia risk (age-adjusted OR 1.57 95% CI 1.02 - 2.41). This association remained when adjusting for most potential confounders and was attenuated and no longer statistically significant when BMI was added. Among the other biomarkers no clear associations with sarcopenia risk were observed. In conclusion, we performed a hypothesis-generating study of pre-diagnostic, circulating metabolic and inflammatory markers in relation to radiologically estimated sarcopenia at diagnosis in colorectal cancer patients. Positive associations between cholesterol and sarcopenia in men and between adiponectin and sarcopenia in women were shown. These results need to be validated in future studies.

Citation Format: Johannes Färdeman, Björn Gylling, Richard Palmqvist, Jan Axelsson, Katrine Riklund, Sophia Harlid, Bethany Van Guelpen. Relationship between pre-diagnostic biomarkers and sarcopenia in colorectal cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 733.