Pesticide exposures are associated with increased risk of lymphoma and leukemia in adults. The Children's Cancer Group (CCG) recently found non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in the child and parent to be associated with pesticide exposure. The chromosomal effects appear to be due to aberrant action of the VDJ-recombinase system relative to rearrangements of the genome coding for immunoglobulins and T-cell receptor proteins. These rearrangements were increased in pesticide-exposed agricultural workers. This application proposes to conduct a case-control study of childhood NHL (600 newly-diagnosed cases of unspecified gender) to (1) confirm the elevated risk with pesticide exposure, identify the types of pesticides responsible, and determine the relative importance of in utero versus childhood exposure, and (2) use two blood biomarkers of aberrant VDJ-recombinase activity to determine whether children with NHL have higher rates of recombination than control subjects, and whether these frequencies correlate with pesticides (pre-), other environmental exposures (pre-), and effectiveness of chemotherapy (post-). Two matched control groups will be identified and a community control (random digit dialing) and a control ascertained through the case's treating institution. The investigators state that the results will be potentially relevant to childhood leukemia as well as lymphoma, and may also have implications for these malignancies in adults.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA079457-04
Application #
6376930
Study Section
Epidemiology and Disease Control Subcommittee 2 (EDC)
Program Officer
Verma, Mukesh
Project Start
1998-09-04
Project End
2003-06-30
Budget Start
2001-07-01
Budget End
2002-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$435,980
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
041544081
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089