Testicular cancer risk linked with maternal weight

The results of a study published in the August 20th issue of the International Journal of Cancer suggest an association between maternal weight at the time of delivery and a subsequent increased risk of testicular cancer in adult male offspring.

“Increased fetal exposure to estrogen during the first trimester of pregnancy has been proposed as a risk factor for the development of testicular cancer later in life,” Dr. Tom Grotmol, of the Cancer Registry of Norway, in Oslo, and colleagues write. “Increased maternal weight is associated with higher insulin levels, leading to lower sex hormone-binding globulin levels and thereby increased levels of bioavailable estrogens for transplacental transfer from mother to fetus.”To investigate this relationship, the researchers compared data for a random sample of women giving birth in Oslo between 1931 and 1955 with the testicular cancer incidence among men born in Norway during the same time period.The team used maternal weight at delivery as a proxy for first-trimester weight. All 1790 testicular cancer cases in men born in Norway between 1931 and 1955 and diagnosed at 21 to 45 years of age were included in the study.Apart from a transient decline in maternal weight between the World War II years (1941-1945), maternal weight increased over the study period. A correlation was observed between the incidence of testicular cancer and increased mean maternal weight, after adjustment for birth weight and maternal age, the researchers report.They stress that these observations are indirect and require confirmation in a case-control study. However, the findings “further support the notion that testicular cancer is an example of a ‘civilization disease’ associated with a Westernized lifestyle with increase in obesity, obesity-associated cancer forms and diabetes type 2.”(Source: Int J Cancer 2005;116:327-330: Reuters Health: Oncolink: September 2005.)