Abstract:
Our study is aimed to evaluate whether the modifiable factors, i.e., lifestyle, obesity and psychosocial factors, are associated with risks of obesity-related cancers, and if yes, what are the associations and whether these associations could be modified by metabolic factors and polygenic risk scores.
In recent years, we saw a continuous upward trend of various cancer incidence, which has brought a huge burden of disease. The prevention and early intervention of cancers are urgently needed. Risk-based cancer prevention strategy was proved effective for risk reduction in some cancers, such as breast cancer and lung cancer. And polygenic risk scores have been widely explored in cancer prevention research. However, cancer is a complex disease incorporating genes, environment and underlying interactions, and risks inheriting from genes could be modified Previous epidemiological studies suggested that modifiable factors, including daily lifestyle habits (i.e., physical activity, diet patterns, sleep and etc), obesity and psychosocial factors may play important roles in the oncogenesis and progression of various cancers, which may substantially contribute to the prevention and risk reductions of cancers. Though, to date, the findings remain inconclusive. Worth to mention, whether the roles of modifiable factors in cancer risk differed across populations with various polygenic risk scores are largely unknown. In addition, the potential underlying roles of modifiable factors in cancer risk are also unclear. Studies showed that all these factors, diet and obesity in particular, were strongly associated with metabolic changes, such as hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, adipokines, which also differ across populations with different genetic backgrounds. Thus, we proposed this study in order to comprehensively evaluate the associations of modifiable factors with risks of various cancers, and explore the potential mediation and interaction roles of metabolic factors as well as polygenic risk scores. We will also try to build cancer risk prediction models with emphasis on these modifiable factors.
The study duration is expected to be three years. And our study is likely to provide novel insights in the roles of modifiable factors in cancer oncogenesis, which may further promote individualized cancer prevention and risk reduction based on current genetic risk stratification. In particular, because our study is designed to focus on the modifiable factors, which are relatively easy to change and which are also closed related to some other health issues or diseases such as cardiovascular disease, our will substantially contribute to the improvement of general health status, beyond cancers alone.
