Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention

BACKGROUND: Vigorous physical activity has been associated with lower risk of fatal prostate cancer. However, mechanisms contributing to this relationship are not understood. METHODS: We studied 117 men with prostate cancer in the University of North Carolina Cancer Survivorship Cohort (UNC CSC) who underwent radical prostatectomy, and 101 radiation-treated prostate cancer patients in FASTMAN. Structured questionnaires administered in UNC CSC assessed physical activity...

BACKGROUND: With extended lifespans for people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH), there is a corresponding increased burden of chronic illnesses, including cancer. Our objective was to estimate the excess mortality for PWH with cancer compared with people without HIV (PWoH), accounting for the higher background mortality in the general PWH population. METHODS: We identified 39,000 PWH and 387,767 demographically-matched PWoH in three integrated healthcare systems from 2000-2016...

BACKGROUND: Scanning with low-dose computed tomography reduces lung cancer mortality by 20% among high-risk individuals. Despite its efficacy, the uptake of lung cancer screening (LCS) remains low. Our study aimed to estimate state-level and nationwide LCS rates among eligible individuals and to assess disparities in LCS uptake. METHODS: Data for this study were obtained from the 2022 BRFSS. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to model the associations between predictors and outcome variables and to examine LCS variability across states...

BACKGROUND: Cancer survivors show low physical activity participation rates in the U.S. However, there are limited national-level data on disparities in the prevalence of meeting physical activity guidelines among women with and without breast cancer. We aimed to evaluate national-level trends in meeting physical activity guidelines across demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of breast cancer survivors and women without cancer. METHODS: Data for women aged ≥35-years with and without breast cancer were obtained from the 2004-2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)...

BACKGROUND: Studies have identified associations between neighborhood disadvantage (ND), which is more likely to affect African American (AA) individuals, and aggressive prostate cancer. Thus, ND may contribute to prostate cancer disparities. However, it is unknown what ND components drive aggressive disease and whether associations vary by race. METHODS: We evaluated associations between aggressive prostate cancer and four ND metrics-Area Deprivation Index (ADI), validated Bayesian Neighborhood Deprivation Index (NDI), racial isolation (RI) index, and historical redlining, and whether these factors interacted with race, among men with prostate cancer treated at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (2004-2021)...

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer has been associated with monogenic, polygenic, and epidemiologic (clinical, reproductive and lifestyle) risk factors, but studies evaluating the combined effects of these factors have been limited. METHODS: We extended previous work in breast cancer risk modeling, incorporating pathogenic variants (PV) in six breast cancer predisposition genes and a 105-SNP polygenic risk score (PRS), to include an epidemiologic risk score (ERS) in a sample of non-Hispanic White women drawn from prospective cohorts and population-based case-control studies, with 23,518 cases and 22,832 controls, from the Cancer Risk Estimates Related to Susceptibility (CARRIERS) Consortium...

BACKGROUND: Risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) may accumulate through multiple environmental factors. Understanding their effects, along with genetics, age and family history, could allow improvements in clinical decisions for screening protocols. We aimed to extend previous work by recalibrating an environmental risk score (e-Score) for CRC among a sample of US Veteran participants of the Million Veteran Program (MVP). METHODS: Demographic, lifestyle, and CRC data from 2011-2022 were abstracted from survey responses and health records of 227,504 male MVP participants...

BACKGROUND: Asian New York City (NYC) residents have the lowest cancer screening uptake across race and ethnicity. Few studies have examined screening differences across Asian ethnic subgroups in NYC. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey data were analyzed using multivariable logistic and multinomial regression analyses. Differences among Chinese, Korean, and South Asian adults in breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening uptake; breast and CRC screening knowledge; and cancer fatalism were examined...

BACKGROUND: Rapid growth in the number of U.S. cancer survivors drives the need for ongoing research efforts to improve outcomes and experiences after cancer. Here we describe the University of North Carolina (UNC) Cancer Survivorship Cohort, a medical center-based cohort of adults with cancer that integrates medical record-abstracted cancer information, patient-reported outcomes, and biologic specimens. METHODS: Participants ages 18+ were recruited from UNC oncology clinics between April 2010 and August 2016...

BACKGROUND: Previous survival studies on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by etiology are limited to hospital-based series, restricted cohorts, and monolithic etiological categories. We studied population-based survival by seven mutually exclusive HCC etiologic groups-standalone hepatitis-C virus (HCV), hepatitis-B virus (HBV), alcohol-related liver disease (ALD), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and dual etiology HCV&HBV, HCV&ALD, and HBV&ALD-accounting for clinical and socio-demographic characteristics...

BACKGROUND: Risk of early-stage lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) recurrence after surgical resection is significant, and post-recurrence median survival is approximately two years. Currently there are no commercially available biomarkers that predict recurrence. Here, we investigated whether microbial and host genomic signatures in the lung can predict recurrence. METHODS: In 91 early-stage (Stage IA/IB) LUAD-patients with extensive follow-up, we used 16s rRNA gene sequencing and host RNA-sequencing to map the microbial and host transcriptomic landscape in tumor and adjacent unaffected lung samples...

BACKGROUND: Risk factors including smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity (PA), and sleep patterns have been associated with cancer risk. Clonal hematopoiesis (CH), including mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs) and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), is linked to increased hematopoietic cancer risk, and could be used as common pre-clinical intermediates for better understanding associations of risk factors with rare hematologic malignancies. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 478,513 UK Biobank participants without hematologic malignancies using multivariable adjusted analyses to assess the associations between lifestyle factors and CH types...

BACKGROUND: We investigated clinical characteristics and prostate cancer (PCa) survival patterns among Latino patients considering nativity compared to non-Latino Black (NLB) and non-Latino White (NLW) patients. METHODS: We used data from the California Cancer Registry (1995-2021), which included 347,540 NLW, 50,032 NLB, and 75,238 Latino PCa patients. Frequencies of sociodemographic and clinical variables were assessed with Chi-square tests. Multivariable regression models were fitted to evaluate determinants of treatment reception, Gleason upgrade, and survival differences...

BACKGROUND: Estradiol and estrone are well-established risk factors for postmenopausal breast cancer (BC). Experimental evidence suggests that specific estrogen metabolites, produced via irreversible hydroxylation of estrone and estradiol at the 2- or 16-position may independently influence carcinogenesis. METHODS: We performed a nested case-control study of BC (328 BC cases; 639 controls) among postmenopausal women within the Nurses' Health Study (NHS)to examine the role of estrogens and estrogen metabolites (jointly referred to as EM)...

BACKGROUND: Height and mammographic breast density are well-known risk factors for breast cancer. This study aims to investigate the association between height and mammographic density with breast cancer risk in a large population-based cohort of Korean women. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 4,851,115 women aged 40 and older who underwent screening mammography through the Korean National Cancer Screening Program (KNCSP) between 2009 and 2014 and were followed up until 2016...

BACKGROUND: Various population-based studies have shown Hispanic/Latino ethnicity is a risk factor for worse survival in patients with gastric cancer linked to disparate access to care. We aimed to address whether Hispanic patients treated within safety-net hospital systems continue to experience this survival deficit compared to non-Hispanic patients. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study comparing survival between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma between January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2020 within Los Angeles County's safety-net hospital system...

BACKGROUND: Diet-disease association studies increasingly use dietary patterns (DPs) to account for the complexity of the exposure. We assessed if a DP associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus, CVD, and all-cause mortality is also associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: We used reduced rank regression on 24-h recall data to identify DPs explaining the maximum variation in four nutrient-response variables: energy density, saturated fatty acids, free sugars and fibre density...

BACKGROUND: Localized prostate tumors show significant spatial heterogeneity, with regions of high-grade disease adjacent to lower-grade disease. Consequently, prostate cancer biopsies are prone to sampling bias, potentially leading to underestimation of tumor grade. To study the clinical, epidemiologic and molecular hallmarks of this phenomenon, we conducted a prospective study of grade upgrading: differences in detected prostate cancer grade between biopsy and surgery. METHODS: We established a prospective, multi-institutional cohort of men with Grade Group 1 (GG1) prostate cancer on biopsy who underwent radical prostatectomy...

BACKGROUND: Benzene exposure has been associated with increased leukemia and other cancer risk; however, epidemiological evidence is inconsistent for the latter and confounding from smoking and alcohol was rarely adjusted. METHODS: We investigated associations of occupational benzene exposure and risk of leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, lung, stomach, liver, and kidney cancers in a population-based cohort of 61,377 men ages 40-74. A job-exposure matrix, constructed by industrial hygienists specifically for the study population, was used to derive cumulative benzene exposure from all jobs held...

BACKGROUND: Cancer rates in rural areas vary by insurance status, socioeconomic status, region, race, and ethnicity. METHODS: California Cancer Registry data (2015-2019) were used to investigate stage of diagnosis by levels of rurality for the five most common cancers. Percent of residents in rural blocks within census tract aggregation zones was categorized into deciles up to 50%. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate associations with rurality, with separate models by cancer site, sex, race, and ethnicity (non-Hispanic White and Hispanic)...