TY - JOUR

T1 - Approaching a scientific consensus on the association between allergies and glioma risk

T2 - A report from the glioma international case-control study

AU - Amirian, E. Susan

AU - Zhou, Renke

AU - Wrensch, Margaret R.

AU - Olson, Sara H

AU - Scheurer, Michael E.

AU - Il'yasova, Dora

AU - Lachance, Daniel H

AU - Armstrong, Georgina N

AU - Mccoy, Lucie S.

AU - Lau, Ching C

AU - Claus, Elizabeth B

AU - Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S

AU - Schildkraut, Joellen

AU - Ali-Osman, Francis

AU - Sadetzki, Siegal

AU - Johansen, Christoffer

AU - Houlston, Richard S

AU - Jenkins, Robert B

AU - Bernstein, Jonine L

AU - Merrell, Ryan T.

AU - Davis, Faith G

AU - Lai, Rose

AU - Shete, Sanjay

AU - Amos, Christopher I

AU - Melin, Beatrice S

AU - Bondy, Melissa L

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Background: Several previous studies have found inverse associations between glioma susceptibility and a history of allergies or other atopic conditions. Some evidence indicates that respiratory allergies are likely to be particularly relevant with regard to glioma risk. Using data from the Glioma International Case-Control Study (GICC), we examined the effects of respiratory allergies and other atopic conditions on glioma risk. Methods: The GICC contains detailed information on history of atopic conditions for 4,533 cases and 4,171 controls, recruited from 14 study sites across five countries. Using two-stage randomeffects restricted maximum likelihood modeling to calculate meta-analysis ORs, we examined the associations between glioma and allergy status, respiratory allergy status, asthma, and eczema. Results: Having a history of respiratory allergies was associated with an approximately 30% lower glioma risk, compared with not having respiratory allergies (mOR, 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.58-0.90). This association was similar when restricting to highgrade glioma cases. Asthma and eczema were also significantly protective against glioma. Conclusion: A substantial amount of data on the inverse association between atopic conditions and glioma has accumulated, and findings from the GICC study further strengthen the existing evidence that the relationship between atopy and glioma is unlikely to be coincidental. Impact: As the literature approaches a consensus on the impact of allergies in glioma risk, future research can begin to shift focus to what the underlying biologic mechanism behind this association may be, which could, in turn, yield new opportunities for immunotherapy or cancer prevention.

AB - Background: Several previous studies have found inverse associations between glioma susceptibility and a history of allergies or other atopic conditions. Some evidence indicates that respiratory allergies are likely to be particularly relevant with regard to glioma risk. Using data from the Glioma International Case-Control Study (GICC), we examined the effects of respiratory allergies and other atopic conditions on glioma risk. Methods: The GICC contains detailed information on history of atopic conditions for 4,533 cases and 4,171 controls, recruited from 14 study sites across five countries. Using two-stage randomeffects restricted maximum likelihood modeling to calculate meta-analysis ORs, we examined the associations between glioma and allergy status, respiratory allergy status, asthma, and eczema. Results: Having a history of respiratory allergies was associated with an approximately 30% lower glioma risk, compared with not having respiratory allergies (mOR, 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.58-0.90). This association was similar when restricting to highgrade glioma cases. Asthma and eczema were also significantly protective against glioma. Conclusion: A substantial amount of data on the inverse association between atopic conditions and glioma has accumulated, and findings from the GICC study further strengthen the existing evidence that the relationship between atopy and glioma is unlikely to be coincidental. Impact: As the literature approaches a consensus on the impact of allergies in glioma risk, future research can begin to shift focus to what the underlying biologic mechanism behind this association may be, which could, in turn, yield new opportunities for immunotherapy or cancer prevention.

U2 - 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-0847

DO - 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-0847

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26908595

AN - SCOPUS:84957806090

VL - 25

SP - 282

EP - 290

JO - Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention

JF - Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention

SN - 1055-9965

IS - 2

ER -