Association between L-α-glycerylphosphorylcholine use and risk of kidney cancer: A nationwide representative retrospective cohort study
Menée à partir de données 2011-2024 de l'Assurance maladie coréenne portant sur 491 771 personnes, cette étude analyse l'effet, sur l'incidence du cancer du rein, d'une supplémentation en L-alpha-glycérylphosphorylcholine (alpha-GPC), utilisée pour les troubles cognitifs et la démence de type Alzheimer
Background: L-α-glycerylphosphorylcholine (α-GPC) is widely prescribed for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s dementia. Previous cohort studies have reported that dietary free choline intake was associated with decreased kidney cancer risk. The oncologic safety of supplemental α-GPC remains uncertain given its role in producing trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a metabolite implicated in renal injury and certain malignancies. This study aimed to test the hypothesis whether α-GPC use was associated with the reduction of incident kidney cancer.
Methods: Using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, we conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study among adults aged ≥ 50 who underwent health screening in 2009–2010. After exclusion criteria and 1:5 exact propensity score matching, 81,970 α-GPC users and 409,801 non-users were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models. Incident kidney cancer events were identified from 2011 to 2024.
Results: α-GPC use was not associated with kidney cancer risk (adjusted HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.84–1.08; 280 events in α-GPC users, 1570 in non-users). Results were consistent across lag-time sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses by age, sex, income, Charlson comorbidity index, and estimated glomerular filtration rate.
Conclusions: α-GPC use was not associated with incident kidney cancer in this large Korean cohort. Further studies in diverse populations are warranted in order to confirm these findings.
Cancer Epidemiology , article en libre accès, 2026