Molecular cancer epidemiology is a science that:
- seeks to identify human cancer risk and carcinogenic mechanisms to improve cancer prevention strategies
- is multi-disciplinary and translational, going from the bench to the field and back
- uses biomarkers and state-of-art technologies to gain mechanistic information from epidemiological studies
Some examples of molecular epidemiology studies include:
- genetic susceptibility for the causes and prognosis of cancer
- gene-environment interactions in cancer risk (e.g., p53 mutations, estrogen receptor expression, etc.)
- urinary biomarkers for tobacco carcinogens, estrogen metabolites, mutagens, etc.
- DNA damage in blood as a result of environmental exposures from lifestyle factors, foods, chemicals, etc.
To learn more about molecular epidemiology in cancer research, read AACR’s journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.