Publications by authors named "Chang-Claude J"
Purpose: Overlapping genes are involved with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and DNA repair pathways. Therefore, we hypothesised that patients with a high polygenic risk score (PRS) for RA will have an increased risk of radiotherapy (RT) toxicity given the involvement of DNA repair.
Methods: Primary analysis was performed on 1494 prostate cancer, 483 lung cancer and 1820 breast cancer patients assessed for development of RT toxicity in the REQUITE study.
Background And Purpose: We investigate discrepancies in the assessment of treatment-related symptoms in lung cancer between healthcare professionals and patients, and factors contributing to these discrepancies.
Materials And Methods: Data from 515 participants in the REQUITE study were analysed. Five symptoms (cough, dyspnoea, bronchopulmonary haemorrhage, chest wall pain, dysphagia) were evaluated both before and after radiotherapy.
Background: The 313-variant polygenic risk score (PRS) provides a promising tool for clinical breast cancer risk prediction. However, evaluation of the PRS across different European populations which could influence risk estimation has not been performed.
Methods: We explored the distribution of PRS across European populations using genotype data from 94,072 females without breast cancer diagnosis, of European-ancestry from 21 countries participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) and 223,316 females without breast cancer diagnosis from the UK Biobank.
Article Synopsis
- Many cancer patients, especially postmenopausal women with breast cancer, continue to smoke even after their diagnosis, which can negatively affect treatment outcomes.!
- A study analyzed data from 450 breast cancer survivors to identify factors influencing persistent smoking, finding that longer smoking duration and higher daily cigarette consumption increased the likelihood of continued smoking, while older age and greater leisure physical activity were linked to quitting.!
- The research highlights the need for smoking cessation programs tailored for cancer patients, suggesting that incorporating physical activity in tobacco treatment plans may help breast cancer patients quit smoking more effectively.!
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- Ovarian cancer often leads to muscle loss, malnutrition, and fatigue, adversely affecting patients' quality of life, especially during first-line chemotherapy.
- A new study aims to assess an app-based exercise and nutrition program's effectiveness over six months compared to standard care, with physical performance measured by the 6-Minute Walk Test as the main focus.
- The study will involve a multicenter trial with a minimum of 182 participants, all diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, and assess various health and nutrition indicators alongside physical performance improvements.
Article Synopsis
- * A study identified a specific genetic variation at Chr6:31373718C>G that is associated with increased CRC risk, particularly in the younger population, with stronger odds for EOCRC compared to older adults.
- * Analysis showed that individuals carrying the minor G allele have reduced expression of the immune-related MICA gene and lower levels of Natural Killer (NK) cell infiltration in tumors, suggesting a link between this genetic variation and tumor immune response.
Purpose: Most breast biopsies are diagnosed as benign breast disease (BBD), with 1.5- to fourfold increased breast cancer (BC) risk. Apart from pathologic diagnoses of atypical hyperplasia, few factors aid in BC risk assessment of these patients.
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- Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major health concern, and understanding how genetic and environmental factors interact can help identify at-risk groups.
- This study analyzed data from over 45,000 CRC cases to assess both multiplicative and additive interactions between genetic risk scores and various environmental factors, finding no multiplicative interactions but significant additive ones for high genetic susceptibility individuals.
- Results suggest that individuals with high genetic risk could benefit more from lifestyle interventions like reducing alcohol intake or increasing fruit and fiber consumption, emphasizing the need for targeted prevention strategies in CRC care.
Article Synopsis
- IBDM for breast radiotherapy needs better spatial normalisation due to differences in treatment positioning and breast characteristics, prompting an optimization study.
- Data from 996 patients were analyzed using various deformable image registration methods to improve the accuracy of spatial normalisation during treatment.
- The B-spline algorithm with normalised mutual information was identified as the most effective method, with supine registrations achieving the highest accuracy, while arm positioning did not significantly affect outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- Clinical genetic testing helps find cancer risks by identifying gene changes, but some of these changes are confusing because we don't know what they mean (called VUS).
- Researchers studied a huge number of breast cancer patients and healthy people to understand these confusing gene changes better.
- They found that their method of analyzing data closely matches what other experts say about which gene changes are harmless or harmful, giving more information about 785 unclear changes.
Article Synopsis
- Research explored the link between calcium intake, genetic variants in the calcium sensor receptor gene, and survival rates in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, using data from 18,952 individuals.
- No significant associations were found between dietary, supplemental, or total calcium intake and either all-cause or CRC-specific mortality, despite tracking 6,801 deaths over a median follow-up of 4.8 years.
- The study noted potential interactions between supplemental calcium intake and certain genetic variants, suggesting that genetics may influence how calcium affects mortality in CRC patients.
Background: Breast cancer is comprised of distinct molecular subtypes. Studies have reported differences in risk factor associations with breast cancer subtypes, especially by tumor estrogen receptor (ER) status, but their consistency across racial and ethnic populations has not been comprehensively evaluated.
Methods: We conducted a qualitative, scoping literature review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis, extension for Scoping Reviews to investigate consistencies in associations between 18 breast cancer risk factors (reproductive, anthropometric, lifestyle, and medical history) and risk of ER-defined subtypes in women who self-identify as Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latina, or White.
Article Synopsis
- * Analysis of data from over 55,000 breast cancer patients showed that co-observation of variants in BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 with other breast cancer genes occurred less frequently than expected, suggesting a potential correlation with pathogenicity.
- * The findings indicate that identifying a variant of uncertain significance alongside a known pathogenic variant supports evidence against the variant's pathogenicity, which could improve variant classification in clinical settings and for other genetic conditions.
Background: Breast cancer consists of distinct molecular subtypes. Studies have reported differences in risk factor associations with breast cancer subtypes, especially by tumor estrogen receptor (ER) status, but their consistency across racial and ethnic populations has not been comprehensively evaluated.
Methods: We conducted a qualitative, scoping literature review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis, extension for Scoping Reviews to investigate consistencies in associations between 18 breast cancer risk factors (reproductive, anthropometric, lifestyle, and medical history) and risk of ER-defined subtypes in women who self-identify as Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latina, or White.
Article Synopsis
- Scientists looked at the timing of when girls start their periods (called menarche) and how it can affect their health later in life.
- They studied about 800,000 women and found over a thousand genetic signals that influence when menstruation starts.
- Some women have a much higher chance of starting their periods too early or too late based on their genetic makeup, suggesting that genes play a big role in this process!
Agreement to participate in case-control studies has become low. Healthy participant bias resulting from differential response proportions in cases and controls can distort results; however, the magnitude of bias is difficult to assess. We investigated the effect in a large population-based case-control study on breast cancer, with a participation rate of 43.
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- * Researchers analyzed data from 52 studies, including nearly 31,000 CRC cases and over 41,000 controls, to explore the genetic interactions with regular aspirin/NSAID use.
- * They found significant interactions with genetic variants in two specific regions (6q24.1 and 5p13.1), which could help uncover new targets for understanding how aspirin provides its protective effects against colorectal cancer.
Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has become increasingly important for breast cancer survivors, but clinically relevant declines often persist for many years after treatment. This study aimed to investigate whether social relationships can mitigate or prevent this decline in HRQOL.
Methods: Data were used from the German population-based Mamma Carcinoma Risk Factor Investigation (MARIE) cohort of 2022 breast cancer cases with follow-up information for more than 15 years after diagnosis.
Article Synopsis
- Consumption of fiber, fruits, and vegetables may lower the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but genetic factors might influence this connection.
- A large study involving nearly 70,000 participants identified two significant genetic variants linked to dietary intake and CRC risk using advanced statistical methods.
- The findings suggest specific genetic loci (SLC26A3 and NEGR1) may affect how fiber and fruit consumption interacts with CRC risk, highlighting the need for more research on the underlying mechanisms.
To identify credible causal risk variants (CCVs) associated with different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we performed genome-wide association analysis for 470,825 genotyped and 10,163,797 imputed SNPs in 25,981 EOC cases and 105,724 controls of European origin. We identified five histotype-specific EOC risk regions (p value <5 × 10) and confirmed previously reported associations for 27 risk regions. Conditional analyses identified an additional 11 signals independent of the primary signal at six risk regions (p value <10).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 200 common genetic variants independently associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, but the causal variants and target genes are mostly unknown. We sought to fine-map all known CRC risk loci using GWAS data from 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of East Asian and European ancestry. Our stepwise conditional analyses revealed 238 independent association signals of CRC risk, each with a set of credible causal variants (CCVs), of which 28 signals had a single CCV.
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- Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) may lower the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), especially in women with a higher genetic predisposition to the disease.
- In a study of nearly 30,000 postmenopausal women, those in the highest genetic risk quartile saw a significantly greater reduction in CRC risk when using MHT compared to those in the lowest quartile.
- The findings suggest that integrating genetic risk information could improve CRC risk predictions and inform the assessment of MHT benefits in postmenopausal women.
Article Synopsis
- - This study analyzed the relationship between cholesterol precursors and oxysterols in 2,282 women with breast cancer, considering various factors like lifestyle, health conditions, and tumor characteristics.
- - Key findings showed that obesity was significantly linked to increased levels of specific sterols, while cardiovascular comorbidities influenced levels of certain sterols differently.
- - The research suggests that while cholesterol precursors are closely related to metabolic factors, oxysterols are more associated with the characteristics of breast cancer tumors, indicating a need for further investigation.
The 313-variant polygenic risk score (PRS) provides a promising tool for breast cancer risk prediction. However, evaluation of the PRS across different European populations which could influence risk estimation has not been performed. Here, we explored the distribution of PRS across European populations using genotype data from 94,072 females without breast cancer, of European-ancestry from 21 countries participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) and 225,105 female participants from the UK Biobank.
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