2008 Articles
Cancer and blood concentrations of the comutagen harmane in essential tremor
Blood concentrations of harmane, a tremor-producing neurotoxin, are elevated in essential tremor (ET). Harmane is also a comutagen. Using a case-control design, we compared the prevalence of cancer in ET cases vs. controls, and determined whether blood harmane concentrations are elevated among ET cases with cancer. 66/267 (24.7%) ET cases vs. 55/331 (16.6%) controls had cancer (adjusted OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.01 — 2.30, P = 0.04). Among specific cancer types, colon cancer was more prevalent in ET cases than controls (2.6% vs. 0.6%, P = 0.04). Log blood harmane concentration was higher in ET cases vs. controls (P = 0.02) and in participants with vs. without cancer (P = 0.02). Log blood harmane concentration was highest in ET cases with cancer when compared with other groups (P = 0.009). These links between cancer and ET and between high blood harmane and cancer in ET deserve further study.
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- nihms65723.pdf application/pdf 179 KB Download File
Also Published In
- Title
- Movement Disorders
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.22084
More About This Work
- Academic Units
- Center for Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders
- Published Here
- December 10, 2013