This renewal application seeks support for the infrastructure of the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) Study, which was established in Hawaii and southern California in 1993-1996 to study risk factors for cancer and other chronic diseases. The study was designed to take advantage of the ethnic and cultural diversity of the two geographic areas, as well as the expertise of the investigators in nutrition, ethnic/racial studies, and genetics. It is the most ethnically diverse cancer cohort in existence. It achieves high cost-efficiency by supplementing active follow-up information with computerized linkages to SEER, vital statistics, hospital-discharge diagnoses, medical claim data, electronic medical records and geospatial information. At baseline, the cohort included information on 215,000 men and women, comprised almost entirely of five ethnic/racial populations: Caucasians, Japanese Americans, Native Hawaiians, African Americans, and Latinos. The resource was later expanded to include a prospective biorepository of blood and urine specimens from ~70,000 of the participants. Leadership of the MEC entails a highly interactive, team approach; and the investigators have amply demonstrated their willingness to share data/samples, and to participate actively in consortia. This application describes our aims over the next 5 years for maintaining and enhancing the infrastructure of the MEC, as well as plans for methodological research. Research accomplishments include significant contributions to understanding both genetic and environmental risk factors for cancer. Over 280 papers describing our findings have been published during the current grant cycle. In addition, over the last 20 years, 98 research grants have been built around the MEC, and more than 75 students and postdoctoral fellows have been trained on the study. This grant renewal will make possible the continuation of a well-integrated program of research aimed at evaluating environmental and genetic risk factors for cancer and other common chronic diseases, taking advantage of new approaches, such as genomics, microbiomics, adductomics and metabolomics. The MEC will allow the testing of innovative research hypotheses aimed at ensuring that progress in prevention applies to major US ethnic/racial minorities.

Public Health Relevance

The Multiethnic Cohort Study is a powerful resource for continuing research efforts aimed at greater understanding of the environmental causes of cancer and other chronic diseases, and how these risk factors interact with genetic variants to explain some of the ethnic/racial disparities in cancer risks in the U.S. population. It is our hope that this work ultimately will provide useful insights into the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
3U01CA164973-08S1
Application #
9976642
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1)
Program Officer
Mahabir, Somdat
Project Start
2012-09-01
Project End
2022-08-31
Budget Start
2019-09-01
Budget End
2020-08-31
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Hawaii
Department
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
965088057
City
Honolulu
State
HI
Country
United States
Zip Code
96822
Gong, J; Nishimura, K K; Fernandez-Rhodes, L et al. (2018) Trans-ethnic analysis of metabochip data identifies two new loci associated with BMI. Int J Obes (Lond) 42:384-390
O'Reilly, Éilis J; Bjornevik, Kjetil; Schwarzschild, Michael A et al. (2018) Pre-diagnostic plasma urate and the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener 19:194-200
Park, Sungshim L; Cheng, Iona; Haiman, Christopher A (2018) Genome-Wide Association Studies of Cancer in Diverse Populations. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 27:405-417
Lim, Unhee; Monroe, Kristine R; Buchthal, Steve et al. (2018) Propensity for Intra-abdominal and Hepatic Adiposity Varies Among Ethnic Groups. Gastroenterology :
Maskarinec, Gertraud; Ju, Dan; Fong, Jaimie et al. (2018) Mammographic density and breast tissue expression of inflammatory markers, growth factors, and vimentin. BMC Cancer 18:1191
Amshoff, Yvette; Maskarinec, Gertraud; Shvetsov, Yurii B et al. (2018) Type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer survival: The multiethnic cohort. Int J Cancer 143:263-268
Van Dyke, Alison L; Langhamer, Margaret S; Zhu, Bin et al. (2018) Family History of Cancer and Risk of Biliary Tract Cancers: Results from the Biliary Tract Cancers Pooling Project. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 27:348-351
Maskarinec, Gertraud; Jacobs, Simone; Amshoff, Yvette et al. (2018) Sleep duration and incidence of type 2 diabetes: the Multiethnic Cohort. Sleep Health 4:27-32
Cologne, John; Loo, Lenora; Shvetsov, Yurii B et al. (2018) Stepwise approach to SNP-set analysis illustrated with the Metabochip and colorectal cancer in Japanese Americans of the Multiethnic Cohort. BMC Genomics 19:524
Lu, Yingchang; Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia; Wu, Lang et al. (2018) A Transcriptome-Wide Association Study Among 97,898 Women to Identify Candidate Susceptibility Genes for Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Risk. Cancer Res 78:5419-5430

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