Funds are needed to complete the analysis of the West Coast Childhood Brain Tumor (WCCBT) study. The occurrence of more cases than expected over the accrual period necessitated some 200 more interviews than planned with parents of cases and controls. In addition, NCI's across the board funding cuts left insufficient resources to complete data analysis. It has also become important to investigate the issue of whether it is appropriate to use a short food list designed to assess intake relevant to exposure to N- nitroso compounds (NOC) for analyses of other micro and macro nutrients. Therefore, it is also proposed to use detailed dietary survey data on women in our West Coast regions to derive uncertainty estimates to use in the analysis of each nutrient. Our study includes 544 CBT cases diagnosed between 1984-1990 among children ages 0-19 living in a 19 county area of the US West Coast and 792 control children. Data have been collected in 2373 interviews with mothers and fathers of cases and controls on diet, drugs, and other sources of NOC exposure as well as on other suggested CBT risk factors such as ionizing radiation, head trauma and genetic predispositions. Separate analyses will be done for each of the three regions where the study was conducted (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) and data will be pooled and analyzed stratifying by region as well as by potential confounders such as social class. The WCCBT study has sufficient statistical power to conduct separate analyses by histologic type for the two most common types of CBT - astrocytoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNETD formerly called medulloblastoma). The WCCBT study is the largest CBT study conducted to date. CBTs are the most common solid cancer in children and the causes of the vast majority of these remain unknown. A compelling experimental model suggests that NOC may cause CBT in humans, particularly when exposure is transplacental. The WCCBT study, in conjunction with the related international study, is the first specifically designed to focus on the NOC/CBT hypothesis. Combining WCCBT data with data from other centers in the international study, which expects to include a total of 1350 cases and 2250 controls, will enable separate analyses for several of the less common histologic types. Toxicologically-based schemes for dose estimation will include us of summary indices for: 1) nitrite (most comes from cured meats), 2) alkylamides, 3) amine precursors of NOC, and 4) preformed NOC; simultaneous presence of NOC precursors and of inhibitors and/or catalysts of nitrosation will also be considered.
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