A prospective analysis of red blood cell membrane polyunsaturated fatty acid levels and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Published studies report inconsistent associations of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk. We conducted a nested case-control study in Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study participants to evaluate a hypothesis of inverse association of pre-diagnosis red blood cell (RBC) membrane PUFA levels with risk of NHL endpoints. We confirmed 583 NHL cases and matched 583 controls by cohort/sex, age, race and blood draw date/time. We estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for risk of NHL endpoints using logistic regression. RBC PUFA levels were not associated with all NHL risk; cis 20:2n-6 was associated with follicular lymphoma risk (OR [95% CI] per one standard deviation increase: 1.35 [1.03-1.77]), and the omega-6/omega-3 PUFA ratio was associated with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma risk (2.33 [1.23-4.43]). Overall, PUFA did not demonstrate a role in NHL etiology; the two unexpected positive associations lack clear biologic explanations.

Automated summary

Published studies on the association between polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk have yielded inconsistent results. This nested case-control study, involving participants from the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, found no overall association between red blood cell (RBC) membrane PUFA levels and NHL risk. However, certain PUFA were associated with specific types of lymphoma, and the reasons for these unexpected associations remain unclear.