DCEG News Updates
The latest news and research findings from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.
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Genetic variants in HLA-DPB1 are associated with increased risk of severe aplastic anemia and may offer etiologic insights, according to findings in The American Journal of Human Genetics on February 6, 2020.
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The Informatics Tool Challenge, launched in 2014, provides a unique, supplementary funding source for DCEG researchers seeking to create novel tools to enhance data collection, analysis, and other avenues of investigation. A sampling of tools that illustrate the growth and success of the Challenge are described.
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Steven C. Moore, Ph.D., M.P.H., has built a multidisciplinary research program in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch focused on understanding the contributions of physical activity, obesity, and diet to human cancer and overall health.
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DCEG scientists use data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink to investigate risk factors and exposures that may contribute to cancer risk, ranging from medication usage to genetic cancer predisposition.
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Bin Zhu, in the Biostatistics Branch, and Lisa Mirabello, in the Clinical Genetics Branch, conducted the largest HPV 16 whole-genome sequencing study to evaluate the contribution of genetic variation in HPV 16 to infection outcome. They found APOBEC3-induced mutations associated with benign cervical infections.
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In February 2020, Neelam Giri and Blanche Alter received the CCR-DCEG FLEX award for their project investigating metformin use as prevention of oral squamous cell carcinoma in patients with Fanconi anemia.
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In February 2020, Blanche P. Alter and Robert N. Hoover were elected to the prestigious American Association of Physicians, a society of America’s leading physician-scientists.
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Overall U.S. hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence rates plateaued in 2013 and dropped 4% in 2016 according to findings published in Gastroenterology on January 19, 2020.
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Elizabeth Platz, Sc.D., Deputy Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, spent two days at DCEG as a Visiting Scholar in December 2019. Learn more about her visit.
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Type 2 diabetes in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 was associated with excess risk of cancer, but metformin treatment may reduce this risk, according to findings in the International Journal of Cancer on November 20, 2019.
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Lindsay Morton, Ph.D., has been appointed Deputy Chief of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch as of January 7, 2020.
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Martha Linet, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Investigator and former Branch Chief in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB), retired in January 2020 after 33 years of service to the National Cancer Institute.
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Ruth A. Kleinerman, Ph.D., M.P.H., staff scientist and deputy chief in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB) will retire at the end of 2019 after 40 years of service. Dr. Kleinerman is widely recognized for her work on treatment-related second cancers.