A genome-wide association study of prostate cancer in West African men.

Age-adjusted mortality rates for prostate cancer are higher for African-American men compared with those of European ancestry. Recent data suggest that West African men also have elevated risk for prostate cancer relative to European men. Genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer could account for part of this difference.

Sex-specific associations between body mass index, waist circumference and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus: a pooled analysis from the international BEACON consortium.

Objective: Barrett's oesophagus is a precursor lesion of oesophageal adenocarcinoma, a cancer that, in the USA, has increased in incidence over 600% during the past 40 years. Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma are much more common among men than among women; this finding is unexplained and most earlier studies lacked sufficient numbers of women to evaluate sex-specific risk factors. We leveraged the power of an international consortium to assess sex-specific relationships between body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference and Barrett's oesophagus.

Non-acid reflux: the missing link between gastric atrophy and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma?

Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common incident cancer in the world and, due to the poor survival rate it confers, ranks sixth among all cancers in mortality. In developed countries of the western world, the incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has undergone a decline and adenocarcinoma now constitutes approximately half of all esophageal cancers. In these relatively low-risk areas, tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption account for ~90% of ESCC cases.

Family cancer history affecting risk of colorectal cancer in a prospective cohort of Chinese women.

An elevated risk of colorectal cancer has been associated with sporadic colorectal cancer in first-degree relatives, mostly in Western populations. Limited data exist from traditionally low-risk areas, such as Asia, where the prevalence of risk factors may differ. We examined the association of family history of cancer and subsequent colorectal cancer risk in a cohort of traditionally low-risk Chinese women.