Program Activities

The Cancer Epidemiology and Chemoprevention Research Program is focused on bringing basic scientists and clinicians together to address issues of cancer immunotherapy:

• Develop further inter-programmatic collaborations with Cancer Mechanisms and Immunology
  • Planned retreat with Cancer Mechanisms Group
  • Planned focus group on skin cancer (immunity/Hh)
• Continue mentorship of and development of faculty
  • COBRE on integrative biology (Moore/Gui)
• Planned Post-Doctoral Training and Educational Program (Moore/Karagas/Tosteson/Others)
• Develop other Program Projects/SPORE Grants
  • Challenge: requirement of clinical investigator leadership
• Membership Recruitment
  • External
• Senior Biostatistician
• Molecular Pharmacologist
• Molecular Pharmacoepidemiologist
• Population Geneticist
• Internal
• Continue to recruit population biologists
• New Translational Grants
  • Combination chemoprevention both in animal and human proof of principal trials studies
    • E.g., Randomized Phase II proof of principle trials with erlotinib versus erlotinib plus bexarotene in lung cancer
  • Validation of carcinogenic induced and transgenic mouse models that are predictive of human carcinogenesis
  • Continue to test chemoprevention agents in model systems including human clinical trials with clinical outcomes
• Translation of new mechanistic discoveries to human epidemiologic studies specifically new molecular pathology markers to understand potential etiologic and chemopreventive targets
  • Targeted this year’s pilot funds
  • Challenges: infrastructure support/cost of molecular pathology services.
• Apply new bioinformatics and statistical approaches to assess SNP array data for gene-gene and gene-environment interactions for application to identify cancer risk
  • Pending grant on G x E interaction & Integrative Biology COBRE
  • Planned validation work with bladder cancer consortium
  • Planned training grant & educational program
  • Challenge: Genomics facility (SNP analysis)
• Conduct follow-up studies of population-based studies to elucidate risk factors for progression and survival
  • Melanoma prognosis study (underway)
  • Role of environmental factors in bladder cancer prognosis (underway)
  • Skin cancer follow-up study for other malignancies (recently awarded)
  • Genomics of bladder cancer prognosis (planned)
  • Lung cancer follow-up study based on lung cancer case-control study funded by COBRE (planned)
  • Colorectal registry follow-up (future possibility)
• Enhanced understanding of early life exposures in adult onset cancers
  • Linda Titus-Ernstoff: Continued follow-up of DES exposed cohorts
  • Recruitment of Marlene Goldman, reproductive epidemiology
  • Rebecca Troisi ongoing studies of pregnancy hormones levels
  • Margaret Karagas planned study of intrauterine arsenic exposure