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Leptin Strongly Positively Associated With Endometrial Cancer

There is a strong relationship between endometrial cancer and leptin, the hormone associated with obesity and reproduction, say United States and Greek researchers.

It is unclear, however, "whether leptin elevation, as a consequence of obesity, plays a role in endometrial carcinogenesis or whether it is a simple correlate of obesity."

In this case-control study, Eleni Petridou and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, United States, Athens University Medical School, and Biomed International Diagnostic Center, Athens, Greece, enlisted 84 women with histologically confirmed incident endometrial cancer.

A control group of 84 women at the same Greek hospital was made up of patients admitted for small surgical operations.

Radioimmunoassay was used to measure serum leptin levels in fasting morning blood samples. Subjects and controls were compared with simple t test for mean values of leptin levels. Further analysis was made of the data using multiple logistic regression procedures.

While the endometrial cancer group showed serum leptin levels of 36.7 ± 25.7 ng/ml, among controls they were found to be 26.9 ± 19.8 ng/ml (p = 0.006).

Once adjustments were made for known risk factors of endometrial cancer, say the researchers, "components of the insulin-like growth factor system did not confound the association of leptin with endometrial cancer."

After adjusting for body mass index, however, this association was eliminated.

Before adjusting for body mass index, the odds ratio for an increment of one standard deviation of blood leptin was 1.52 (p = 0.03); after adjustment it was only 1.13 (p = 0.62).
Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism 46:3-4:2002, 147-151 "Leptin and Body Mass Index in Relation to Endometrial Cancer Risk"

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