American Association for Cancer Research

March 2007 CEBP Highlights

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Selected Articles from the March 2007 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 March 2007 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.


CEBP Focus:

Update on Lymphoma

2006 Annual Meeting Symposium

Page 367

Investigators around the world have reported that incidence and mortality rates for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) rose steadily and substantially over the last five decades of the twentieth century. A major challenge for cancer epidemiology is identifying what changes in the environment or in behavior fueled this epidemic. In April 2006, a symposium was held at the Annual Meeting of the InterLymph Consortium to discuss the role of environment in NHL risk. Papers from that meeting are presented in this issue and, in summary, show that several environmental and behavioral factors alter the risk of developing lymphoma and may have contributed to the long-term rise in rates. The current understanding, though incomplete, represents real progress.
 

Risk Increases after Benign Biopsy

Ashbeck et al.

Page 467

Most benign biopsy results as interpreted by community pathologists represent an important risk of future breast cancer. Ashbeck et al. examined benign breast-biopsy diagnoses as reported by community pathologists, and investigated associations with future breast cancer development using data collected by the New Mexico Mammography Project and cancer data from the New Mexico Tumor Registry. Among low-risk histologic diagnoses, the strongest associations with subsequent breast cancer development included adenosis, apocrine metaplasia, calcifications, and ductal hyperplasia. The observed breast cancer occurrence contributes to evidence of increased risk following a biopsy that is benign. The risk associated with histologic diagnoses in absence of atypia was twice the risk experienced by women with normal mammogram evaluations, and may be modified by breast density.


Sigmoidoscopy vs. Colonoscopy

Brenner et al.

Page 494

Due to the typically slow development of colorectal cancer (CRC), there is a large potential to reduce the burden of the disease by early detection and removal of precancerous lesions or early cancer stages. Brenner et al. aimed to estimate the proportions of CRC cases that might be prevented by sigmoidoscopy compared with colonoscopy among women and men. The authors concluded that colonoscopy provides strong protection against CRC among both women and men. The proportion of this protection achieved by sigmoidoscopy with follow-up colonoscopy in case of distal polyps may be larger than anticipated. Among men, this regimen may be almost as effective as colonoscopy, at least at previous performance levels of colonoscopy.


Although isoflavones have been suggested to have a preventive effect against prostate cancer in animal experiments, the results of epidemiologic studies are inconsistent. Kurahashi et al. conducted a population-based prospective study in Japanese men, who generally have a high intake of isoflavones and low incidence of prostate cancer. Intakes of genistein, daidzein, miso soup and soy food were not associated with total prostate cancer; however, these four items decreased the risk of localized prostate cancer. In contrast, positive associations were seen between isoflavones and advanced prostate cancer. The authors concluded that isoflavone intake was associated with a decreased risk of localized prostate cancer.


Age and Race Predict Smoking Cessation Participation

Audrain-McGovern et al.

Page 617

Although young adults are more likely to attempt to quit smoking than older adults, young adults are less likely to succeed. Audrain-McGovern et al. evaluated the predictors of participation in a smoking cessation program among young adult smokers, aged 18–30 years old. Caucasians were over six times more likely to participate in the smoking cessation program compared to non-Caucasians. For every standard deviation increase in age, there was about a two-fold increase in the likelihood that a young-adult smoker participated in the smoking cessation program. Future research should investigate how to promote participation in smoking-cessation programs among smokers in emerging adulthood and among non-Caucasian young-adult smokers.