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Approved Research

Modeling risk for cancer outcomes using modifiable, metabolomic and genetic factors

Principal Investigator: Professor Victor Moreno
Approved Research ID: 69033
Approval date: June 16th 2021

Lay summary

The Multi-Case Control Spain study recruited 10,106 subjects ranging in 20-85 years old between 2009 and 2013 from different regions of Spain, including 2,140 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), 1,738 with breast cancer (BC), 1,112 with prostate cancer (PC), 459 with gastric cancer (GC), 559 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and 4,098 population controls (www.mccspain.org). This study aims to identify risk factors for cancer and to develop risk prediction models to improve cancer screening. We will use UKbiobank data to confirm our findings and to validate the risk prediction models. Also, genetic and metabolomics data in both studies will be used to design genetic instruments for Mendelian randomization studies to identify mechanistic and causal factors. We are also interested in using UK Biobank to explore risk factors for other prevalent cancers not included in MCC-Spain such as lung, pancreas, ovary, and endometrium, among others, to develop risk models.

The risk models will be based on epidemiological risk factors (age, sex, smoking status, body-mass index, diet, medication intake, family history, among others), metabolomics and genetic susceptibility. Risk models will be latter applied to stratify the population and tailor cancer screening strategies to improve efficiency, identifying individuals from the population at risk of suffer from cancer, but also will reduce unnecessary adverse effects such as false positives that provoke anxiety, potential overtreatment and unnecessary costs.