Pritchett NR, Maziarz M, Shu XO, et al. - In order to verify a previously reported inverse link of serum ghrelin level with gastric and esophageal cancer risk, researchers used radioimmunoassay to measure ghrelin level in serum samples from 298 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cases, 518 gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) cases, 258 gastric noncardia adenocarcinoma (GNCA) cases, and 770 sub-cohort controls (case-cohort) in the Linxian General Population Nutrition Intervention Trial (NIT), and in plasma samples from 249 GNCA cases and 498 matched controls (nested case-control) in the Shanghai Women's Health Study. In both cohorts, an increased risk for GNCA and GCA was reported in relation to low baseline ghrelin level. By contrast, an attenuated risk of developing ESCC was found in the NIT in relation to low ghrelin level at baseline. Findings are suggestive of a possible role of ghrelin as an early marker of future cancer risk for developing upper gastrointestinal cancer in areas of high incidence.