Healthy lifestyle may help 'mitigate genetic risk of cancer'

A new study has suggested that abiding by a healthy lifestyle may decrease the incidence of cancer, even in those with a high genetic risk.

Researchers from Nanjing Medical University in China achieved their findings by calculating individual polygenic risk scores (PRS) - personalised estimates of an individual's cancer risk - for 16 cancers in men and 18 cancers in women. They used genotype data from more than 200,000 men and almost 240,000 women in the UK Biobank study and calculated each person's cancer polygenic risk score (CPRS).

The individuals also had their lifestyles classified as unfavourable, intermediate and favourable depending on factors including smoking and alcohol consumption, body mass index, exercise levels, and diet.

The research showed that patients with an unfavourable lifestyle and the highest quintile genetic risk were 2.99 times - for men - and 2.38 times - in women - more likely to develop cancer than those with a favourable lifestyle and the lowest quintile of genetic risk.

Looking at those with a high genetic risk, the incidence of cancer within five years was 7.23 per cent in men and 5.77 per cent in women with an unfavourable lifestyle, while it was 5.51 per cent in men and 3.69 per cent in women with a favourable lifestyle.

This trend was noted across all genetic risk categories, with lead author Guangfu Jin suggesting that all patients could benefit from a healthy lifestyle, whatever their risk.

"Our findings indicate that everyone should have a healthy lifestyle to decrease overall cancer risk," Jin said. "This is particularly important for individuals with a high genetic risk of cancer. We hope our CPRS could be useful to improve a person's awareness of their inherited susceptibility of cancer as a whole and facilitate them to participate in healthy activities."

The study was published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.