Approved research

Genome-wide association and interaction studies of breast cancer

Lay summary

The proposed research aims to investigate the genetic architecture of breast cancer with a particular focus on identifying novel genetic risk factors that interact with established environmental risk factors to alter breast cancer risk. With an estimated 1.7 million new cases and 520,000 deaths in 2012, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women globally. Given the high prevalence, more research on the causes and prevention of breast cancer is urgently needed. The proposed research will ?improve the prevention, diagnosis [?] of illness and the promotion of health throughout society? by providing insights into the etiology of breast cancer and improve our ability to assess the breast cancer risk as a function of an individual?s genome and environment/lifestyle. This research aims to identify inherited genetic differences that alter the risk of developing breast cancer. In particular, we will study how our DNA interacts with non-genetic risk factors (such as obesity, alcohol intake, number of children) to affect breast cancer risk. We will compare the genomes and environmental risk factors between individuals who are affected with breast cancer and individuals without breast cancer. We request data from all breast cancer cases in the UK Biobank. For each case (N~4,000 incident cases and N~9,000 prevalent cases), we also request 4 controls matched to the case on sex, ethnicity and age at DNA collection. Please exclude any potential controls with a previous history of cancer.