1349-7006 Keeley, Brieze R Islami, Farhad Pourshams, Akram Poustchi, Hossein Pak, Jamie S Brennan, Paul Khademi, Hooman Genden, Eric M Abnet, Christian C Dawsey, Sanford M Boffetta, Paolo Malekzadeh, Reza Sikora, Andrew G K08 CA154963/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States Journal article Cancer Sci. 2014 Jul 9. doi: 10.1111/cas.12485. ; International audience ; This study tests the hypothesis that pre-diagnostic serum levels of twenty cancer-associated inflammatory biomarkers correlate directly with future development of head & neck, esophageal, and lung cancers in a high-risk prospective cohort. This is a nested case-control pilot study of subjects enrolled in the Golestan Cohort Study, an ongoing epidemiologic project assessing cancer trends in Golestan, Iran. We measured a panel of 20 cytokines, chemokines, and inflammatory molecules using Luminex(R) technology in serum samples collected two or more years before cancer diagnosis in 78 aerodigestive cancer cases and 81 controls. Data was analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum test, odds ratios (OR), ROC areas of discrimination, and multivariate analysis. Biomarkers were profoundly and globally elevated in future esophageal and lung cancer patients compared to controls. Odds ratios were significant for association between several biomarkers and future development of esophageal cancer, including IL-1Ralpha (35.88), IFNalpha2 (34), FGF-2 (17.43), GM-CSF (17.43), et al. The same trend was observed among future lung cancer cases for G-CSF (27.68), GM-CSF (13.33), TNF-alpha (8.55), et al. By contrast, the majority of biomarkers studied showed no significant correlation with future head and neck cancer development. This study provides the first direct evidence that multiple inflammatory biomarkers are coordinately elevated in future lung and esophageal cancer patients two or more years before cancer diagnosis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.