Research Highlights - News Updates
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Cancer Treatment Disparities Persist for People with HIV
Using the NCI’s HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study data from 2001-2019, Jennifer McGee-Avila, postdoctoral fellow in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, finds that people with HIV are less likely to receive treatment for many different cancer types compared to people without HIV.
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For Childhood Cancer Survivors, Inherited Genetic Factors Influence Risk of Cancers Later in Life
Common inherited genetic factors that predict cancer risk in the general population may also predict elevated risk of new cancers among childhood cancer survivors. Findings could potentially inform screening and long-term follow-up of those at greatest risk.
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Enduring Guidelines: Methods and Dual Stain for Cervical Cancer Screening Triage
Continual improvement of cervical cancer screening and management to include new technologies and approaches requires a flexible approach to guidelines. A description of the Enduring Guidelines effort—methods and principles to ensure swift adoption of changes—and a review and decision on the first new technology to be added to the guidelines—dual stain cytology—were published in the Journal of the Lower Genital Tract Diseases.
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Benefits of Reducing Smoking Quantified in Prospective Cohort Study
Reductions in cigarettes per day and the amount of time smoked were both associated with lower risk of lung cancer among men in the prospective cohort study, Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study. Serial questionnaires collected every four months allowed for precision of estimates.
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Carcinogenic Industrial Air Pollution Emitted Inequitably Across the U.S.
African American, Hispanic, and Latino people, as well as individuals with limited education or experiencing poverty, reside in areas disproportionately affected by carcinogenic industrial emissions, a new study finds.
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Adding Polygenic Risk Score Improves Breast Cancer Risk Prediction for Black Women
Risk prediction for incident breast cancer among U.S. Black women was improved with the addition of polygenic risk score (PRS) to questionnaire-based factors. Ruth Pfeiffer and colleagues validated the performance of a previously published PRS for Black women and tested its performance when combined with models using questionnaire-based risk factors. Performance metrics were similar to models for women of European ancestry.
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Helicobacter pylori Genome Project Publishes Findings
The Helicobacter pylori Genome Project, an international and multidisciplinary team of ~250 scientists, have sequenced the genomes and mapped the population structure of over one thousand strains of the bacterium H. pylori, known to cause non-cardia gastric cancer, the most common anatomical subtype, collected from around the world.
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IARC Finds Eliminating or Reducing Alcohol Intake Can Lower Risk of Oral, Esophageal Cancer
Christian Abnet and Katherine McGlynn participated in an expert panel, convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which found sufficient evidence that reduction or cessation of alcohol consumption reduces risk for both oral and esophageal cancer.
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Chromosomal Mosaicism May Influence Risk for Burkitt Lymphoma in Children from sub-Saharan Africa
A multi-disciplinary, international team of experts identified differences in the number of mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs) in children from sub-Saharan Africa with Burkitt lymphoma (BL), compared to children without BL. Similar patterns were observed in sub-Saharan African adults. These findings suggest a role for environmental factors in the frequency of mCAs in sub-Saharan African individuals and indicate mCAs in circulating leukocytes could have relevance for future BL risk. These novel findings were published in Nature Communication on December 6, 2023.
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Childhood Leukemia Linked to PFAS Levels Measured in Mother's First Trimester
Rena Jones, Mary Ward, and colleagues, observed increasing concentrations of a specific per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the serum of pregnant women to be associated with increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in their offspring. Investigators in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch are the first to explore the association between prenatal PFAS exposure and risk of childhood leukemia. Their findings were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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Both Smoking-attributable and Smoking-unrelated Lung Cancer Death Rates Continue to Decline
Smoking-attributable and smoking-unrelated lung cancer death rates declined from 1991 to 2018 in the U.S., according to a new study from Dr. Meredith Shiels and colleagues.
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Anal Cancer Risk and Survival in People with HIV
A series of studies using data from the HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study provide evidence to inform recommendations for anal cancer screening and emphasize the importance of early anal cancer detection and treatment among people with HIV. The papers were published by Drs. Haas and Shing, part of Dr. Shiels’s research group. The findings
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Poor Sleep Quality Associated with Increased Prostate Cancer Risk
Poor sleep quality, as measured by accelerometers, was associated with a 15-20% greater risk of prostate cancer in a study of over 30,000 men in the UK Biobank. Neither sleep duration nor sleep timing were associated with prostate cancer risk. These novel findings need to be replicated in future studies and in more diverse study populations.
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Differences in Knowledge of HPV and the HPV Vaccine by Education, Race, and Ethnicity
Ms. Erica Stephens and Dr. Jaimie Shing used data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults to ascertain awareness of HPV and the HPV vaccine, as well as knowledge that HPV can cause cancers, by educational attainment, race, and ethnicity. They found profound disparities that signal the importance of continued education around HPV and the HPV vaccine.
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Biomarkers of Exposure to Combustion Products Associated with Esophageal Cancer
By-products of combustion—from pollution, cooking, heating, or other sources—were associated with elevated risk of esophageal cancer in a population without occupational exposure and where tobacco use is not common. Researchers from the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration, and laboratories at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Ultrafine Particulate Matter Associated with Lung Cancer
Ultrafine particulate matter found in traffic-related air pollution—particularly long-term exposure—is associated with elevated risk of lung cancer, particularly adenocarcinoma of the lung. Rena Jones and Debra Silverman in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch (OEEB) conducted the study in a population of residents in California.
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PFAS Levels and Kidney Cancer Risk in the Multiethnic Cohort Study
Using data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study, researchers in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch led the first study to explore the relationship between blood levels of PFAS and risk of kidney cancer in different racial and ethnic groups.
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Novel Method Improves Polygenic Risk Prediction for Diverse Ancestries
A multidisciplinary and international team of scientists from academia, industry, and government, has developed a new statistical method for generating polygenic risk scores for heritable traits and diseases that improves performance across diverse populations.
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High Levels of Particulate Air Pollution Associated with Increased Breast Cancer Incidence
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that living in an area with high levels of particulate air pollution was associated with an increased incidence of breast cancer. The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is one of the largest studies to date looking at the relationship between outdoor air pollution, specifically fine particulate matter, and breast cancer incidence. The research was done by scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute.
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Serum PFAS Associated with Testicular Cancer Risk in U.S. Air Force Servicemen
Dr. Mark Purdue and colleagues found that higher levels of PFOS, a specific PFAS, in blood collected from U.S. Air Force servicemen was associated with higher risk of developing testicular cancer.