November 2006 Highlights: CEBP

Selected Articles from the November 2006 Issue

The articles referenced in this Highlights section will be available online in HTML and PDF formats to all interested users at no charge until the next issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention is published. Click on the article title to view the complete article.

View the Table of Contents for the November 2006 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

CEBP Focus:

Second Primary Cancers

Alberts, Travis, Vogel, Mayne, and Cartmel

Page 2019

Cancer survivors represent more than 3.5% of the U.S. population, and the number rises each year, posing new healthcare problems related to the late effects of cancer treatments and the threat of secondary primary cancers. Second or multiple primary cancers in cancer survivors represent 16% of all new primary cancers. This special section presents manuscripts from invited speakers at the AACR’s Fourth Annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention meeting. The authors cover the epidemiology, screening, and chemoprevention for the long-term follow up and management of the ever increasing population of cancer survivors.

Inactivity Increases Risk of Endometrial Cancer

Friberg et al.

Page 2136

Physical activity is involved in the regulation of metabolic and hormonal pathways and is one of the factors important for the maintenance of body weight; obesity has been shown to be a risk factor for endometrial cancer. Friberg et al. investigated the association of total physical activity and different types of physical activity with risk of endometrial cancer in the Swedish Mammography Cohort, a population-based prospective cohort including 33,723 women and 199 endometrial cancer cases. Findings from this study suggest that total physical activity is weakly inversely associated with endometrial cancer risk, and that leisure time inactivity is statistically significantly associated with increased risk for endometrial cancer.

Synergistic Effect Found between Smoking and
HPV-16 in Cervical Cancer

Gunnell et al.

Page 2141

A majority of studies have implicated the involvement of cigarette smoking in cervical cancer development, although its mechanism of action remains unclear. Gunnell et al. conducted a large population-based case-control study to address the potential interaction between smoking and human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) in development of cervical cancer in situ (CIS). The risk for CIS among current smokers who were HPV-16 positive at time of first smear was more than 14-fold compared to HPV-16 negative current smokers. In contrast, the risk for CIS among HPV-16 positive non-smokers was only 6-fold, compared to HPV-16 negative non-smokers. The results of this study suggest a synergistic effect between smoking and both HPV-16 status and HPV-16 viral load, which may occur almost a decade prior to CIS detection.

Education Levels Influence Likelihood of Pap Testing

Coughlin et al.

Page 2154

Few studies have examined cancer screening among women residing in metropolitan areas in relation to both individual-level and area-based measures of socioeconomic status (SES). To learn more, Coughlin et al. examined rates of Papanicolaou (Pap) testing among women living in metropolitan areas in relation to individual-level measures area-based measures of SES. The authors found education level to be positively associated with Pap testing rates, especially among women residing in areas where a relatively low percentage of residents had a low education level. Analyses of cancer screening rates by measures of income, educational attainment, and other factors may help health officials to better direct their finite resources to areas of greatest need.

New Urinary Biomarker for Colon Cancer Risk

Pierre et al.

Page 2274
Red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of colon cancer. Animal studies show that heme, found in red meat, promotes pre-neoplastic lesions in the colon, probably due to the oxidative properties of this compound. Pierre et al. found that 1,4-dihydroxynonane mercapturic acid (DHN-MA) excretion increased dramatically in rats fed high heme diets, and the excretion paralleled the number of pre-neoplastic lesions in azoxymethane initiated rats. In the human study, the heme supplemented diet resulted in a two-fold increase in DHN-MA. The authors conclude that urinary DHN-MA is a useful noninvasive biomarker for determining the risk of pre-neoplastic lesions associated with heme iron consumption, and should be further investigated as a potential biomarker of colon cancer risk.

November 2006 Highlights: CEBP

Selected Articles from the November 2006 Issue

Second Primary Cancers

Inactivity Increases Risk of Endometrial Cancer

Synergistic Effect Found between Smoking and
HPV-16 in Cervical Cancer

Education Levels Influence Likelihood of Pap Testing

New Urinary Biomarker for Colon Cancer Risk

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