Eosinophils exhibit anti‐tumor cytotoxic responses in the tumor microenvironment and may contribute to tumor immunosurveillance. To assess the relationship between circulating eosinophils and cancer risk, we analyzed data from 443,542 adults aged 38–73 in the UK Biobank, who were initially cancer‐free, had over a year of follow‐up, and baseline white blood cell count measurements. Using multivariable Cox regression, we estimated hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for each quartile increase in absolute eosinophil count (AEC) across 58 cancer types, adjusting for relevant confounders. During a median follow‐up of 5.8 years, 22,747 incident cancer cases were diagnosed. We observed an inverse association, which met Bonferroni significance, between AEC and overall cancer risk (aHR, 95%CI 0.97, 0.95–0.98). Notably, 16 cancer types showed borderline associations (p <.05) with AEC, with 12 types displaying an inverse relationship. These included four hematologic cancers (acute and other myeloid leukemia, other lymphocytic leukemia, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma; aHR range; 0.58–0.87) and eight nonhematologic cancers (melanoma and nose/middle ear, soft tissue/heart, gum/other mouth, tongue, lung, colon, and breast cancers; aHR range: 0.65–0.95). Higher AEC showed a borderline significant association with increased risk for intrahepatic bile duct cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma, and chronic myeloid leukemia (aHR range: 1.13–1.42). Our study, the largest to date, provides insights into the relationship between blood eosinophils and a comprehensive list of incident cancers. The inverse association between AEC and overall cancer risk suggests a protective role for eosinophils in tumor surveillance.

中文翻译：

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英国生物银行中嗜酸性粒细胞与癌症风险之间的关联

嗜酸性粒细胞在肿瘤微环境中表现出抗肿瘤细胞毒性反应，可能有助于肿瘤免疫监视。为了评估循环嗜酸性粒细胞与癌症风险之间的关系，我们分析了英国生物银行中 443,542 名 38-73 岁成年人的数据，这些人最初没有患癌症，经过一年多的随访和基线白细胞计数测量。使用多变量 Cox 回归，我们估计了 58 种癌症类型中嗜酸性粒细胞绝对计数 (AEC) 每四分位数增加的风险比 (aHR) 和 95% 置信区间 (95%CI)，并调整了相关混杂因素。在中位随访 5.8 年期间，诊断出 22,747 例癌症病例。我们观察到 AEC 与总体癌症风险之间存在负相关，符合 Bonferroni 显着性（aHR，95%CI 0.97，0.95-0.98）。值得注意的是，16 种癌症类型显示出边缘关联（p<.05) 与 AEC，有 12 种类型呈现反比关系。其中包括四种血液癌症（急性和其他髓性白血病、其他淋巴细胞白血病和慢性淋巴细胞白血病/小淋巴细胞淋巴瘤；aHR范围；0.58-0.87）和八种非血液癌症（黑色素瘤和鼻子/中耳、软组织/心脏、牙龈） /其他口腔癌、舌癌、肺癌、结肠癌和乳腺癌；aHR 范围：0.65–0.95）。较高的 AEC 显示与肝内胆管癌、霍奇金淋巴瘤、弥漫性大 B 细胞淋巴瘤和慢性粒细胞白血病风险增加存在显着相关性（aHR 范围：1.13-1.42）。我们的研究是迄今为止最大规模的研究，深入了解血液嗜酸性粒细胞与一系列癌症事件之间的关系。 AEC 与总体癌症风险之间的负相关表明嗜酸性粒细胞在肿瘤监测中具有保护作用。