Approved Research

Comprehensive investigation of biomarkers and medical conditions in relation to subsequent hematological disorders or cancer

Lay summary

The nature of disease is a continuous process but not a categorical definition. Investigating biomarker changes or medical conditions (or disease) in early stage before clinical onset of subsequent disease is of much importance, which could provide evidence for early intervention or screening and provide clue for understanding potential biological mechanism. In this project, we will mainly focus on diseases that are strongly related to serum biomarker changes including hematological disorders and cancer. To be more specific, we aim to: 1) systematically investigate influence factors (risk factors or protective factors) of the association between biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) in earlier stage and subsequent hematological disorders and cancer in later stage, which could help to provide knowledge for disease prevention and screening; 2) identify novel biomarkers or early medical conditions that are related to subsequent hematological disorders and cancer, and explore the associations of biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) that are related to hematological disorders and cancer with other disorders (beyond hematological disorders and cancer); 3) investigate impact of these biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) in earlier stage on the prognosis of subsequent hematological disorders or cancer. Taken together, our findings could provide evidence for early intervention or screening and would be helpful for understanding biological basis for the associations of interest.

1)To investigate influence factors (risk factors or protective factors) of the associations between biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) in earlier stage and subsequent hematological disorders and cancer in later stage (if some modifiable factors are identified, further investigation will be done to evaluate the effect of intervention or treatment of these factors);

2)To identify novel biomarkers or early medical conditions that are related to subsequent hematological disorders and cancer, and explore the associations of biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) that are related to hematological disorders and cancer with other disorders (beyond hematological disorders and cancer);

3) To investigate impact of these biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) in earlier stage on the prognosis of subsequent hematological disorders or cancer.

Additional scope:

4) Mortality and complicated disease trajectories in relation to biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) that are related to hematological disorders and cancer

5) Influence factors on the mortality in relation to the biomarkers or early medical conditions (or disease) that are related to hematological disorders and cancer and influence factors of the these studied biomarkers or early medical conditions (or disease)

6) Development and validation of predictive models of risk of hematological disorders, cancer as well as other disorders (beyond hematological disorders and cancer) based on biomarkers or early medical conditions (or disease) that are related to hematological disorders and cancer

To better identify biomarkers or medical conditions (or disease) that are related to hematological disorders and cancer, in the methodology of the part of genetic analysis, in addition to previously mentioned Mendelian Randomization or PRS score analysis, we additionally plan to perform GWAS and downstream analysis subsequent GWAS analysis.