News: Cancer Epidemiology Research Program

Gene variants associated with cancer risk appear to contribute to carcinogenesis by regulating target genes that in turn promote the generation of mutations.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has awarded two Vanderbilt epidemiologists the Memorabilia Medal “For the People’s Health” in appreciation for their contributions in helping the nation establish a population-based research program for cancer, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.

Biomarkers of DNA methylation, which regulate gene expression, can be a predictor of breast cancer risk, according to a study published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines that determine which smokers qualify for CT scans exclude significant numbers of African Americans who develop lung cancer, a health disparity that merits modifications to lung cancer screening criteria, according to a study from Vanderbilt researchers.

Microbial species in the mouth could be playing a role in colorectal cancer development, according to new research from epidemiologists at VUMC.

A recent study by Vanderbilt investigators revealed that histoplasmosis – a fungal infection that creates cancer-mimicking lesions in the lungs – is prevalent beyond previously identified regions of the United States.

Asian countries are in the early stages of a tobacco smoking epidemic with habits mirroring those of the United States from past decades, setting the stage for a spike in future deaths from smoking-related diseases.

A large-scale study conducted among East Asians and led by Vanderbilt researchers has identified multiple, previously unknown genetic risk factors for colorectal cancer.

A trans-institutional team of researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University has received an $11 million Cancer Moonshot grant to build a single-cell resolution atlas to map out the routes that benign colonic polyps take to progress to colorectal cancer.

A receptor previously implicated in asthma may also play roles in other allergic diseases and in leukemia, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.