The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study conducted in southwestern Finland has been an integral research resource for NCI for over three decades. The ATBC Study was designed to test hypotheses based on epidemiological and experimental evidence supporting nutritional prevention of cancer, including lower risk among persons with higher vitamin status and vegetable consumption, and the biological and anti-neoplastic properties of several antioxidants and micronutrients. It tested supplementation with β-carotene (20 mg/day) and vitamin E (50 mg/day, as dl-α-tocopheryl acetate) for five-eight years (1985-1993) in 29,133 male smokers (>5 cigarettes daily), and found 8% higher overall mortality and 18% increased lung cancer incidence in the β-carotene arm, and 32% lower prostate cancer incidence in the men supplemented with vitamin E.
Baseline questionnaire data and biospecimens (serum, whole blood, and toenail clippings) were collected, and fasting serum α-tocopherol, β-carotene, retinol, and HDL/total cholesterol were measured for the entire cohort. Linkage with the Finnish Cancer and Mortality Registries provided complete case ascertainment and causes of death.
The high-quality study data, biological specimens, and long-term endpoint ascertainment have tested biochemical/molecular and genetic hypotheses with respect to cancers of the lung (4,256 cases currently), prostate (n=2,923), colorectum (1,012), bladder (891), upper gastrointestinal tract (645), pancreas (498), and kidney (399), and lymphomas/ leukemias (654). The ATBC Study has collaborated with extramural researchers and participates in a large number of international consortium projects such as BPC3, the Dietary Pooling Project, COMETS, EHPCCG, PRACTICAL, GAME-ON, PanScan, LC3, TRICL, GECCO, CORECT, Interlymph, and other NCI Cohort Consortium analyses.
For more information, contact Demetrius Albanes.
Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study website