Research Highlights - News Updates
Summaries of research conducted by DCEG investigators.
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Racial Disparities May Decrease with Life-Gained Approach to Lung Cancer Screening
Postdoctoral fellow Rebecca Landy, Ph.D., predoctoral fellow Corey Young, M.S., and senior investigator Hormuzd Katki, Ph.D., in the Biostatistics Branch found that the draft 2020 lung cancer screening guidelines by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) may increase racial/ethnic disparities. However, augmenting the guidelines to include people eligible according to the Life-Years From Screening-Computed Tomography model may reduce disparities.
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Birth Defects Associated with Increased Risk of Cancer in Adulthood
Rebecca Troisi, Sc.D., staff scientist in the Trans-Divisional Research Program, and collaborators examined cancer incidence associated with chromosomal and non-chromosomal congenital anomalies in a large Nordic population-based case-control study. Findings were published in BMJ on December 2, 2020.
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SeroHub Launched: Interactive Dashboard Comparing COVID-19 Seroprevalence Studies
The COVID-19 Seroprevalence Studies Hub (SeroHub) was developed by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, parts of the National Institutes of Health, to provide an interactive dashboard to compare COVID-19 seroprevalence studies across the country.
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Cancer Deaths in the U.S. Resulted in Over Four Million Potential Years of Life Lost in 2017
Minkyo Song, Ph.D., and colleagues estimated the potential years of life lost due to premature death from cancer among Americans aged 75 and younger. They report common malignancies contributed to the largest number of years lost overall: lung cancer, followed by colorectal and breast cancer.
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Daily, Low-dose Aspirin Use May Be Associated with Reduced Ovarian Cancer Risk
Daily, low-dose use of aspirin by women younger than 70 may be associated with reduced risk of ovarian cancer. These findings were published in September 2020 in the journal Gynecologic Oncology.
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Donor IFNL4-null Genotype Associated with Improved Survival in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients with Acute Leukemia
Shahinaz Gadalla, M.D., Ph.D., Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D., and colleagues find acute leukemia patients receiving a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) from donors with IFNL4-null genotype experience reduced risk of death from non-relapse related causes. Findings published October 2020 in Lancet Haematology.
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Novel Isoform of ACE2 Resolves Concern about Interferon-based Treatments for COVID-19
An international team of experts led by Dr. Prokunina-Olsson identified dACE2, a novel isoform of ACE2 (the cell receptor used by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to infect the body). The new report suggests that production of dACE2 and not ACE2 is affected by the presence of interferons, contributed by treatment or various viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2.
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Standardizing the Definition of Aggressive Prostate Cancer for Etiologic Studies
Lauren Hurwitz and Michael Cook in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch proposed a standardized definition for aggressive prostate cancer for use in epidemiologic research and compared its performance using data from the NCI SEER-18 database. The findings were published October 3, 2020, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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Large Study Confirms HPV Vaccine Prevents Cervical Cancer
Researchers in Sweden have confirmed that widespread use of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine dramatically reduces the number of women who will develop cervical cancer. Aimée R. Kreimer, Ph.D., senior investigator in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, discusses the impact of the study for a featured research highlight on the NCI Cancer Currents blog.
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Exploring E-cigarette Use Among U.S. Adults
Neal Freedman, in collaboration with researchers in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences and National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, examined the use of e-cigarettes by U.S. adults in the largest nationally representative tobacco use survey. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open October 13, 2020.
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COVID-era Research in DCEG: An Update from Sharon Savage, Clinical Director
Across the biomedical research community, investigators have turned their attention to the pandemic with the hope of uncovering clues to improve health outcomes from COVID-19 infections, to better understand risk, develop therapeutics and vaccines, and to identify those at greatest risk. DCEG investigators are applying their expertise in analyzing cancer incidence trends, assay development, germline genomics, and other techniques, to the study of COVID-19.
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Environmental Pollutant, PFOA, Associated with Increased Risk of Kidney Cancer
Jonathan Hofmann, Ph.D., and collaborators find that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is associated with increased risk of kidney cancer in a prospective population-based U.S. cohort.
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Mortality Following Chemotherapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma
Investigators in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch assessed the current cause-specific mortality following chemotherapy for classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) in the largest population-based study of more than 20,000 individuals diagnosed with cHL during 2000-2015, an era reflecting contemporary treatment approaches.
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ACS’s Updated Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines Explained
Routine cervical cancer screening is very effective for preventing cervical cancer and deaths from the disease. On July 30, the American Cancer Society (ACS) published an updated guideline for cervical cancer screening. The guideline’s recommendations differ in a few ways from ACS’s prior recommendations and those of other groups. Nicolas Wentzensen, M.D., Ph.D., explains the changes in an interview on the NCI Cancer Currents blog.
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Patterns in “Deaths of Despair” Vary by Geography and Demographics
Meredith Shiels and colleagues investigated whether patterns and trends in mortality from drug poisoning, suicide and alcohol-induced deaths varied by different geographic and demographic factors in 2000-2017. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open on September 11, 2020.
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Higher Intake of Plant Protein Compared to Animal Protein Associated with Lower Mortality
Jiaqi Huang and Demetrius Albanes in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch analyzed the dietary intake of over 400,000 participants from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study and found that greater intake of plant protein rather than animal protein was associated with lower overall and cardiovascular disease mortality.
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Low Dose Ionizing Radiation Shown to Cause Cancer in Review of 26 Studies
Amy Berrington and colleagues conducted a systematic bias assessment and meta-analysis of 26 studies of low dose ionizing radiation. In a JNCI monograph published July 2020, they report a dose-response and statistically significant cancer risk for solid tumors and leukemia.
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Genetic Architecture Study of 14 Cancers Describes Contribution of Common Variants
Montserrat García-Closas and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University and multiple consortia for 14 cancers showed that the utility of polygenic risk scores can vary widely depending on cancer type.
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Artificial Intelligence Dual-Stain Approach Improved Accuracy, Efficiency of Cervical Cancer Screening
Nicolas Wentzensen and colleagues developed a computer algorithm to improve the accuracy and efficiency of cervical cancer screening compared with cytology, the current standard for follow-up of women who test positive with primary HPV screening. The new approach has clear implications for clinical care.
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Nondaily and Low-Intensity Smoking Associated with Increased Risk of Death
Maki Inoue-Choi and collaborators found that nondaily smoking increases risk of death from any cause, compared to both former smokers and never smokers.