Cancer Epidemiology Research Program

The Cancer Epidemiology Research Program aims to improve our understanding of the genetic and environmental origins of cancer and to identify biomarkers for cancer risk and progression. This understanding informs the design of effective cancer prevention and control programs.

RESEARCH THEMES

Investigators in the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program concentrate on four main themes:

Molecular & Genetic Epidemiology

Identifying genetic factors linked to cancer susceptibility

Nutrition, Lifestyle, & Environment

Evaluating the impact of dietary, lifestyle, and environmental factors on cancer risk

Prognostic Factors

Identifying genetic and lifestyle factors that predict cancer survival and recurrence

Global Health & Health Disparities

Understanding the differences in cancer risk and mortality in different populations

Meet the Program Members

The Cancer Epidemiology Research Program is co-led by Xiao Ou Shu, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., and Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H. The co-leaders serve as liaisons to the director and senior leadership for the fostering of inter-programmatic collaboration and integration of cancer epidemiology into the clinical and basic research activities of the cancer center, including the provision of epidemiologic resources and access to large study populations for whom the translation of scientific discoveries into practice is important.

Program Leader

Xiao Ou Shu, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.

Program Leader

Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.

All Program Members

Featured Publications

Identification of novel susceptibility loci and genes for prostate cancer risk: A transcriptome-wide association study in over 140,000 European descendants.

Wu, L., Wang, J., Cai, Q. (CE), Cavazos, T.B., Emami, N.C., Long, J. (CE), Shu, X.O. (CE), Lu, Y., Guo, X. (CE), Bauer, J.A. (ZY), Pasaniuc, B., Penney, K.L., Freedman, M.L., Kote-Jarai, Z., Witte, J.S., Haiman, C.A., Eeles, R.A. & Zheng, W. (CE).

Cancer Res 79(13):3192-3204, 2019; PMC6606384.

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Phenotype risk scores identify patients with unrecognized Mendelian disease patterns.

Bastarache L, Hughey JJ, Hebbring S, Marlo J, Zhao W, Ho WT, Van Driest SL, McGregor TL, Mosley JD, Wells QS, Temple M, Ramirez AH, Carroll R, Osterman T, Edwards TL (CE), Ruderfer D, Velez Edwards DR (CE), Hamid R (ST), Cogan J, Glazer A, Wei WQ, Feng Q, Brilliant M, Zhao ZJ, Cox NJ (CE, GM), Roden DM (NP), Denny JC (CE).

Science 2018 MAR 16 359(6381):1233-1239 PMID:29590070.

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Overall and Central Obesity and Risk of Lung Cancer: A Pooled Analysis.

Yu D, Zheng W (BC, CE), Johansson M, Lan Q, Park Y, White E, Matthews CE, Sawada N, Gao YT, Robien K, Sinha R, Langhammer A, Kaaks R, Giovannucci EL, Liao LM, Xiang YB, Lazovich D, Peters U, Zhang X, Bueno-de-Mesquita B, Willett WC, Tsugane S, Takata Y, Smith-Warner SA, Blot WJ (CE, CO), Shu XO.

J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2018 MAR 6 PMID:29518203.

Dietary Fat Intake and Lung Cancer Risk: A Pooled Analysis

Yang JJ, Yu D, Takata Y, Smith-Warner SA, Blot WJ (CE, CO), White E, Robien K, Park Y, Xiang YB, Sinha R, Lazovich D, Stampfer M, Tumino R, Aune D, Overvad K, Liao L, Zhang X, Gao YT, Johansson M, Willett W, Zheng W (BC, CE), Shu X (CE)

J. Clin. Oncol. 2017 SEP 10 35(26):3055-3064 PMC5590804

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Reaching for the next branch on the biobank tree of knowledge

Cox NJ (CE, GM).

Nat. Genet. 2017 AUG 30 49(9):1295-1296 PMID:28854181

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Phenome-wide scanning identifies multiple diseases and disease severity phenotypes associated with HLA variants

Karnes JH, Bastarache L, Shaffer CM, Gaudieri S, Xu Y, Glazer AM, Mosley JD, Zhao S, Raychaudhuri S, Mallal SA (NP), Ye Z, Mayer JG, Brilliant MH, Hebbring SJ, Roden DM (NP), Phillips EJ, Denny JC (CE)

Sci Transl Med 2017 MAY 10 9(389) PMC5563969

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