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Health News Archive 179 - Cancer
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Inflammation Predicts Cancer Death

A higher white blood cell (WBC) count, a marker of inflammation, is associated with a greater risk of dying from cancer. The January 23 2006 issue of the American Medical Association journal Archives of Internal Medicine published the finding of Anoop Shankar, MD, PhD of the National University of Singapore.

Dr Shankar's team evaluated data from 3,189 participants in the Blue Mountains Eye Study, a population-based cohort study of age-related eye diseases in Australia. All subjects were born prior to 1943 and were cancer free upon enrollment between 1992 and 1994. Blood samples drawn during the initial examination were analyzed for white blood cell count, glucose and other factors. Participants were followed until the end of 2001.

By the end of the study, there were 212 cancer deaths. Men and women whose white blood count was in the top 25 percent of the study population with greater than 7,400 cells per microliter had a 73 percent higher risk of dying of cancer than those whose white blood cells were in the lowest 25 percent at 5,300 cells or less.

When lung cancer was analyzed separately, having a white blood cell count in the top fourth tripled (3.03X) the risk of dying from the disease compared to those whose white blood cell counts were in the lowest quarter. Additionally, the risk of cancer death was higher among subjects with elevated white blood cells who did not take aspirin weekly compared to those who used the drug. Aspirin is well known for its anti-inflammatory action.

The authors conclude, "Our findings suggest that local inflammatory processes that have long been known to be associated with tumor progression may be reflected in the systemic inflammatory marker of higher WBC count."

Source: Anoop Shankar, MD, PhD; Jie Jin Wang, PhD; Elena Rochtchina, MSc; Mimi C. Yu, PhD; Richard Kefford, MD; Paul Mitchell, MD, PhD. Association Between Circulating White Blood Cell Count and Cancer Mortality: A Population-Based Cohort Study. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:188-194.