A Case Control Study of the Seroprevalence of Proteins and Their Association with Pancreatic Cancer Risk.

The association between () infection and pancreatic cancer (PC) risk remains inconclusive. We examined the association between antibodies and PC risk in a case-control study at a comprehensive cancer center. Multiplex serology using a glutathione S-transferase capture immunosorbent assay in conjunction with fluorescent bead technology was used to measure antibodies to 15 proteins in serum or plasma from 131 incident cases with PC or a PC precursor and 131 healthy controls. Reactivity to ≥4 proteins was defined as the overall seroprevalence. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with adjustment for age at diagnosis/interview, gender, and race. The majority of the sample was 50 years or older, and from the white race group. Half of the sample were women. Seroprevalence ≥4 of proteins was 11.1%. Overall, seroprevalence was not associated with PC risk (OR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.25-1.40). The prevalence of several -specific proteins HP537 (OR: 1.78; 95% CI: 0.30-10.51), HP305 (OR: 1.38; 95% CI: 0.61-3.16), and HP410 (OR: 1.31; 95% CI: 0.44-3.96) increased the odds of PC. Similarly, -specific proteins HP522 (OR: 0.25; 95% CI: 0.04-1.66), HyuA (OR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.21-1.14), and HP1564 (OR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.27-1.51) decreased the odds of PC. However, these findings were not statistically significant at  = 0.05. Our findings do not support an association between and PC risk. Further evaluation of this lack of association is recommended.