Genetic risk, health-associated lifestyle, and risk of early-onset total cancer and breast cancer

Early-onset cancer (diagnosed under 50 years of age) is associated with aggressive disease characteristics and its rising incidence is a global concern. The association between healthy lifestyle and early-onset cancer and whether it varies by common genetic variants is unknown.
A study examined the associations between genetic risk, lifestyle, and risk of early-onset cancers. A prospective cohort of 66,308 white British participants who were under age 50 and free of cancer at baseline in the UK Biobank were analysed. Sex-specific composite total cancer polygenic risk scores (PRSs), a breast cancer-specific PRS, and sex-specific health-associated lifestyle scores (HLSs, which summarize smoking status, body mass index [males only], physical activity, alcohol consumption, and diet) were examined.
A total of 1,247 incident invasive early-onset cancer cases (female: 820, male: 427, breast: 386) were documented. In multivariable-adjusted analyses with 2-year latency, higher genetic risk (highest vs. lowest tertile of PRS) was associated with significantly increased risks of early-onset total cancer in females (HR, 95% CI: 1.85, 1.50-2.29) and males (1.94, 1.45-2.59) as well as early-onset breast cancer in females (3.06, 2.20-4.25). An unfavourable lifestyle (highest vs. lowest category of HLS) was associated with higher risk of total cancer and breast cancer in females across genetic risk categories; the association with total cancer was stronger in the highest genetic risk category than the lowest: HRs in females and men were 1.85 (1.02, 3.36), 3.27 (0.78, 13.72) in the highest genetic risk category and 1.15 (0.44, 2.98), 1.16 (0.39, 3.40) in the lowest.
Both genetic and lifestyle factors were independently associated with early-onset total and breast cancer risk. Compared to those with low genetic risk, individuals with a high genetic risk may benefit more from adopting a healthy lifestyle in preventing early-onset cancer.
Source: Zhang Y, Lindström S, Kraft P, Liu Y. Genetic Risk, Health-Associated Lifestyle, and Risk of Early-onset Total Cancer and Breast Cancer. medRxiv. 2024 Apr 6:2024.04.04.24305361.