Approved Research

Predicting late effects in childhood cancer survivors by developing methods to generalize polygenic risk scores

Lay summary

Childhood cancer survivors are highly vulnerable to serious chronic health conditions compared to the general population because of their exposures to therapies to cure cancer. Our proposed project is relevant to public health as it aims to develop a novel method that can build improved genetic profiles to predict risk for chronic health conditions based on polygenic risk scores, a quantitative measure of genetic risk for disease, by accounting for the joint effects of clinical risk factors (e.g., chemotherapy or radiation therapy) and genetic risk factors. The results of the proposed project can ultimately support plans for individualized care for survivors at greatest risk for therapy-related health complications. The proposed project is expected to take ~3 years.