Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium
The Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium is a group of investigators from 12 prospective epidemiologic cohorts and 1 case-control study who are conducting whole genome scans of common genetic variants in order to identify markers of susceptibility to pancreatic cancer.
The Consortium is an initiative of the Cohort Consortium and this study, called PanScan, was funded by NCI's Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) in the fall of 2006.
Investigators will analyze a dense set of the most common genetic variants
in the human genome, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with sufficiently
high enough minor allele frequencies (MAF > 5%). The panel of SNPs is based on an analysis of common SNPs in individuals of northern European background determined by the International
HapMap Project
. The current panel of markers for a whole genome scan includes an estimated 550,000 SNPs and serves as markers for about 90 percent of all common SNPs in Caucasians. After completion of this project, similar studies can be conducted in other populations.
PanScan includes the following stages:
- Researchers will first conduct a nested case-control study of 1,200 pancreatic cancer cases and 1,200 controls.
- A subsequent validation study will genotype the top candidate SNPs in an additional 800 cases and 800 controls, with 50 percent of the cases and controls coming from the same cohorts and 50 percent from the Mayo Clinic Molecular Epidemiology of Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Study.
SNPs that are highly likely to be markers for genetic variants related to pancreatic cancer risk are expected to emerge from this study and lead to further studies of gene-gene, gene-environment, and gene-lifestyle interactions. In addition, PanScan may provide a foundation for subsequent research on understanding familial pancreatic cancer. This understanding also may lead to future investigations of fine mapping, resequence, and functionally characterization of plausible causal variants.
The PanScan investigators plan to produce several manuscripts as a part of the joint analysis of the initial scan and validation study. In addition, the genotyping results will be posted on a controlled-access Web site about the fall of 2007.
Study Participants
The following principal investigators and studies are participating in PanScan. Note that the principal investigators for PanScan often are not the same individuals who are the principal investigators of the established cohorts.
- ACS
Cancer Prevention Study-II
Eric Jacobs, Ph.D.
American Cancer Society - Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (ATBC)
Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D.
Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), NCI - European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study
H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, Netherlands - Give Us a Clue to Cancer and Heart Disease Study (Clue II)
Kathy Helzlsouer, M.D., M.H.S.
Mercy Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University - Health Professional's Follow-up Study
Charles Fuchs, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard University - Mayo
Clinic SPORE in Pancreatic Cancer:
A Clinic-Based Case-Control Study
Gloria Petersen, Ph.D.
Mayo Clinic - NYU Women's Health
Study
Alan Arslan, M.D.
New York University Medical Center - Nurses' Health Study II
Charles Fuchs, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard University - Physicians' Health Study I and II
Charles Fuchs, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard University - Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial
Myron Gross, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota - Shanghai Health Study
Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
Vanderbilt University Center for Health Services Research - Women's Health Initiative
Andrea LaCroix, Ph.D.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center - Women's
Health Study (WHS)
Charles Fuchs, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard University
Consortium Leaders
- Charles Fuchs, M.D., M.P.H., Harvard University
- Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), NCI
NCI Investigators
- Laufey Amundadottir, Ph.D., DCEG
- Stephen Chanock, M.D., DCEG
- Patricia Hartge, Sc.D., DCEG
- Robert Hoover, M.D., DCEG
- Amy Hutchinson, M.S., SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
- Kevin Jacobs, M.S., SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
- Julie Mendelsohn, J.D., M.P.H., DCEG
- Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., DCEG
- Geoffrey Tobias, DCEG
- Kai Yu, Ph.D., DCEG
Questions? Please Contact
- Leah Sansbury, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP), Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), NCI
- Geoffrey Tobias, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), NCI
