Insulin-like growth factor-I (IG
F-I) has cancer promoting activities. However, the hypothesis
that circulating IGF-I concentration is related to
risk of lymphoma overall or its subtypes has
not been examined prospectively. IGF-I co
ncentration was measured in pre-diagnostic
plasma samples from a nested case-control
study of 1072 cases of
lymphoid malignancies
and 1072 individually matched controls from th
e European Prospectiv
e Investiga
tion into
Cancer and Nutrition. Odds ratios (ORs) and c
onfidence intervals (CIs) for lymphoma were
calculated using conditional logist
ic regression. IGF-I concentra
tion was not associated with
overall lymphoma risk (multivariable-adjusted
OR for highest versus lowest third = 0.77
[95% CI=0.57-1.03], P
trend
= 0.06). There was no statistical evidence of heterogeneity in this
association with IGF-I by se
x, age at blood collection, tim
e between blood collection and
diagnosis, age at diagnosis, or body mass index (P
heterogeneity for all
≥
0.05). There were no
associations between IGF-I c
oncentration and risk for specific BCL subtypes, T-cell
lymphoma or Hodgkin lymphoma,
although number of cases were
small. In this European
population, IGF-I concentration wa
s not associated with risk
of overall lymphoma. This study
provides the first prospective evidence on circ
ulating IGF-I concentrations and risk of
lymphoma. Further prospective data are re
quired to examine asso
ciations of IGF-I
concentrations with lymphoma subtypes.