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Approved research

Lifestyle behavior-biomarker interactions on cancer

Principal Investigator: Professor Jian Sun
Approved Research ID: 62296
Approval date: May 27th 2020

Lay summary

Summary Cancer is a major threat of human health. Lifestyle behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, smoking habits, alcohol intake, stress, etc.) are known to play an important role in our predisposition to cancer. However, it seems that the effect of a certain lifestyle behavior is not equal among different individuals (e.g., not all smokers will develop lung cancer). Biomarkers are indicators of some particular biological processes or conditions, can be used to predict risk and outcome of diseases and probably have the ability to stratify the effect of lifestyle behaviors on the risk of specific cancers. To our knowledge, few studies have paid attention to the interaction between biomarkers and lifestyle behaviors on the risk of cancer. This project aims to assess if biomarkers can stratify the effect of lifestyle behaviors on the risk of specific cancers. To address these issues, we propose to perform a prospective, comprehensive analysis by using the large-scale, high quality data from UK biobank. Statistical models and machine learning techniques will be used in our analyses. We intend to include all participants of the UK Biobank cohort. We will start analyses as soon as data are available and plan to finish this project and send manuscripts to authors for review within 36 months after we receive the data. Our study will help reveal the potential mechanisms of biomarkers and lifestyle behaviors in cancer development and improve targeted, early prevention of cancer. Additionally, we may also provide new analytical strategies and methods, which may have some application values for further research.