January 2009 CEBP Highlights

Selected Articles from the January 1, 2009 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 January 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention

Melatonin Levels and Breast Cancer

Schernhammer et al.

Page 74

Melatonin has established roles in the regulation of circadian rhythms but its effects on cancer development are not clear. Schernhammer and colleagues examined the link between melatonin levels and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. This nested, case-control study was conducted using the Nurses’ Health Study Cohort and compared urinary melatonin levels in 357 postmenopausal breast cancer patients to 533 matched controls. Schernhammer and colleagues found a statistically significant inverse association between urinary melatonin levels and breast cancer risk and this association was not altered when adjusted for sleep duration and night work. This study provides further support for the role of melatonin in cancer etiology.

Cruciferous Vegetables and Lung Cancer

Lam et al.

Page 184

There has never been a systematic assessment of the association between cruciferous vegetable consumption and lung cancer risk. Lam and colleagues address this information gap by performing a meta-analysis on the evidence on this topic. Through literature searches of 15 databases, Lam and colleagues identified and analyzed the data from 30 studies addressing the link between cruciferous vegetable consumption and lung cancer risk. They report that higher cruciferous vegetable intake was consistently associated with lower lung cancer risk. In addition, this inverse association was more marked in individuals with GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotypes, emphasizing the potential importance of this gene-diet interaction.

Hormone Therapy and Colon Cancer

Johnson et al.

Page 196

HIGSeveral studies have reported the inverse association between hormone therapy use in postmenopausal women and colon cancer. Johnson and colleagues expand on these studies and present a prospective study of over 56,000 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project. The study found that menopausal hormone therapy was associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer. An important hallmark of this study is the consideration of different hormone therapy formulations (estrogen plus progestin versus estrogen only) as well as duration and recency of therapy. As such, Johnson and colleagues report that the largest risk reduction was among users of estrogen plus progestin therapy, following sequential regimens for 5 or more years.

Breast Cancer Disparities

Harper et al.

Page 121

There is great interest in identifying and reducing the socioeconomic and race-ethnic disparities for cancer-related outcomes in the United States. Harper and colleagues evaluated the trends of race-ethnic and socioeconomic disparities for breast cancer among women 50 and over. The study utilized data from both SEER and the National Health Interview Survey. Encouragingly, the data indicates that disparities declined significantly for incidence, stage of diagnosis and 5-year cause-specific probability of death from breast cancer. Despite these encouraging findings, disparities increased for mammography use. These results reinforce the need or continued emphasis on addressing and eliminating race-ethnic and socioeconomic disparities for all types of cancer.

January 2009 CEBP Highlights

Selected Articles from the January 1, 2009 Issue

Melatonin Levels and Breast Cancer

Cruciferous Vegetables and Lung Cancer

Hormone Therapy and Colon Cancer

Breast Cancer Disparities

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