Xin Xu

Ph.D

The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University

Fellow

PLCO (Learn more about this study)

PLCO-446

Jan 17, 2019

A systematic evaluation of dietary and behavioral factors associated with bladder cancer risk and survival

Bladder cancer is the eleventh most commonly diagnosed type of cancer worldwide. In the United States, statistics demonstrated that an estimated 72570 cases were newly diagnosed with bladder cancer, among which 15210 were expected to die in 2013. Compared to other places in the world, Bladder cancer is considered to be a relatively common disease in Europe, North America, and Northern part of Africa. Bladder cancer is a sophisticated disease. Both genetic and environmental factors are considered to play important roles in the carcinogenesis of bladder cancer. Although some well-established risk factors such as smoking and exposure to arylamines and schistosomal infection are thought to be directly associated with increased risk of bladder cancer, the mechanism of bladder cancer still remains contradictory. These factors cannot thoroughly explain the difference in bladder cancer rate between ethnicities and genders. Further researches are needed to explore potential risk factors and clarify the interaction between them. Therefore, we plan to perform a systematic evaluation of dietary and behavioral factors associated with bladder cancer incidence and survival.

The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial is a randomized, controlled trial enrolling around 155,000 participants between November 1993 and July 2001, providing a comprehensive dataset for bladder cancer incidence and mortality analysis. In addition, diet and behavioral information is also available in questionnaires, such as Baseline Questionnaire (BQ), Dietary Questionnaire (DQX) and Supplemental Questionnaire (SQX). Moreover, the bio-samples collected in PLCO also provide a broad base for serum biomarker and genetic data generation for systematic association study.

1) We plan to systematically evaluate the associations between environmental and behavioral factors (including dietary habits, nutrient supplements, NSAID use, body mass index, physical activity and sleep conditions) and bladder cancer incidence.

2) If serum biomarkers (e.g., Vitamin D) data of bladder cancer cases are available, we plan to include the serum biomarkers into the systematic evaluation of the effects of multiple environmental factors with the survival of bladder cancer patients.

3) If genetic data are available (either targeted array/sequence, genome-wide association study or sequencing data), we plan to investigate the role of genetic variation (as a main effect or interaction with diet and behavioral factors) in relation to bladder cancer incidence or survival.