Publications by authors named "Valerie McGuire"

Article Synopsis
  • The study examined risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) among women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Asian, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and White participants.
  • Findings indicated that oral contraceptive (OC) use and childbirth (parity) were generally associated with lower EOC risk across all groups, especially in Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Asian women.
  • Significant differences in EOC risk factors were detected among the ethnic groups, suggesting that including more diverse populations in research could improve prevention strategies for ovarian cancer.
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The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated racism experienced by Asian Americans, especially women and older individuals. Little is known about how discriminatory experiences during the pandemic have influenced health behaviors among Asian Americans. Between 10/2021 and 6/2022, we surveyed 193 Asian American women in the San Francisco area.

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Background: Women with low-grade ovarian serous carcinoma (LGSC) benefit from surgical treatment; however, the role of chemotherapy is controversial. We examined an international database through the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to identify factors that affect survival in LGSC.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of patients with LGSC who had had primary surgery and had overall survival data available.

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Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-associated mortality among US women with survival disparities seen across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, even after accounting for histology, stage, treatment, and other clinical factors. Neighborhood context can play an important role in ovarian cancer survival, and, to the extent to which minority racial and ethnic groups and populations of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to be segregated into neighborhoods with lower quality social, built, and physical environment, these contextual factors may be a critical component of ovarian cancer survival disparities. Understanding factors associated with ovarian cancer outcome disparities will allow clinicians to identify patients at risk for worse outcomes and point to measures, such as social support programs or transportation aid, that can help to ameliorate such disparities.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to investigate the relationship between p53 protein expression and survival rates in women with different types of ovarian cancer, particularly high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), endometrioid carcinoma (EC), and clear cell carcinoma (CCC), using a large cohort from the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis (OTTA) consortium.
  • It was found that abnormal p53 expression patterns were prevalent in 93.4% of HGSC cases, but in EC and CCC, these abnormal patterns were linked to a significantly higher risk of death, indicating a poor prognosis.
  • The research concluded that while abnormal p53 expression doesn't affect survival in HGSC, it serves as a strong independent prognostic marker for EC and CCC,
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Background: The role of ovulation in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is supported by the consistent protective effects of parity and oral contraceptive use. Whether these factors protect through anovulation alone remains unclear. We explored the association between lifetime ovulatory years (LOY) and EOC.

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Introduction: We investigated the associations between antecedent all-cause CVD diagnoses, cause-specific CVD diagnosis, and CVD medication prescriptions with the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Materials And Methods: We conducted a population-based case-control study of U.S.

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Sheltering-in-place, social distancing, and other strategies to minimize COVID-19 transmission may impact physical activity (PA) and well-being in older adults. To assess self-reported PA changes, well-being, and priorities of older women across the USA early in the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, a 10-question survey was emailed to 5,822 women, aged over 70 years, who had been assigned to the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Strong and Healthy (WHISH) trial PA intervention and had provided email addresses.

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Background: Limited studies have investigated racial/ethnic survival disparities for breast cancer defined by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status in a multiethnic population.

Methods: Using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, we assessed associations of race/ethnicity with ER/PR-specific breast cancer mortality in 10,366 California women diagnosed with breast cancer from 1993 to 2009. We evaluated joint associations of race/ethnicity, health care, sociodemographic, and lifestyle factors with mortality.

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Background: Accumulating evidence suggests a relationship between endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. Independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer have identified 16 and 27 risk regions, respectively, four of which overlap between the two cancers. We aimed to identify joint endometrial and ovarian cancer risk loci by performing a meta-analysis of GWAS summary statistics from these two cancers.

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Mammographic density (MD) phenotypes are strongly associated with breast cancer risk and highly heritable. In this GWAS meta-analysis of 24,192 women, we identify 31 MD loci at P < 5 × 10, tripling the number known to 46. Seventeen identified MD loci also are associated with breast cancer risk in an independent meta-analysis (P < 0.

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Background: Parity is associated with decreased risk of invasive ovarian cancer; however, the relationship between incomplete pregnancies and invasive ovarian cancer risk is unclear. This relationship was examined using 15 case-control studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). Histotype-specific associations, which have not been examined previously with large sample sizes, were also evaluated.

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Background: PTEN loss is a putative driver in histotypes of ovarian cancer (high-grade serous (HGSOC), endometrioid (ENOC), clear cell (CCOC), mucinous (MOC), low-grade serous (LGSOC)). We aimed to characterise PTEN expression as a biomarker in epithelial ovarian cancer in a large population-based study.

Methods: Tumours from 5400 patients from a multicentre observational, prospective cohort study of the Ovarian Tumour Tissue Analysis Consortium were used to evaluate associations between immunohistochemical PTEN patterns and overall survival time, age, stage, grade, residual tumour, CD8+ tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) counts, expression of oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and androgen receptor (AR) by means of Cox proportional hazard models and generalised Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests.

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Purpose: In a review of cancer incidence across continents (GLOBOCAN 2012), data sources from Ghana were classified as Frequencies, the lowest classification for inclusion, signifying the worst data quality for inclusion in the analysis. Recognizing this deficiency, the establishment of a population-based cancer registry was proposed as part of a broader cancer control plan.

Methods: The registry was examined under the following headings: policy, data source, and administrative structure; external support and training; and definition of geographic coverage.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study investigated the relationship between breastfeeding and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer, finding that breastfeeding may lower the risk by 24% overall, especially for high-grade serous and endometrioid cancers.
  • The research involved a pooled analysis of nearly 10,000 women with ovarian cancer and 13,000 controls, focusing on different aspects of breastfeeding, like duration and timing, to gauge their impact on cancer risk.
  • Results indicate that breastfeeding, regardless of pregnancy, is linked to a decreased risk of invasive ovarian cancer, but inconsistencies remain regarding duration and specific cancer types.
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Article Synopsis
  • Percent density (PD) is a significant risk factor for breast cancer, influenced by both alcohol and tobacco use; while alcohol increases PD, tobacco decreases it.
  • A study involving 23,456 women found that alcohol is linked to higher PD and lower nondense area (NDA), while tobacco shows the opposite effects.
  • The findings highlight that lifestyle choices like alcohol consumption may impact breast cancer risk through changes in breast tissue composition, particularly affecting NDA rather than dense area (DA).
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Background: The Veterans Affairs Cooperative Studies Program study #553 was designed to evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy added to the standard of care (SOC) for patients who are at high risk for relapse after prostatectomy.

Objective: To test whether addition of chemotherapy to surgery for high-risk prostate cancer improves progression-free survival (PFS).

Design, Setting, And Participants: Eligible patients after prostatectomy were randomized to the SOC group with observation or to the chemotherapy group with docetaxel and prednisone administered every 3 wk for six cycles.

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Article Synopsis
  • Women of African ancestry experience lower rates of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) but poorer survival outcomes compared to women of European ancestry, prompting research into genetic factors.
  • A genome-wide association study identified ten loci potentially related to EOC and high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) in African ancestry women, with some variants linked to genes regulating hormones and cancer.
  • The study suggests shared genetic risk factors for EOC between different ancestries and highlights specific genetic variants that may influence ovarian cancer risk and outcomes in African ancestry women.
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Background: Africans have an increased risk for multiple myeloma (MM) compared to other races. Reports from Africa are few and involve small cohorts, but suggest significant epidemiological and clinical differences from Caucasian patients.

Objective: This report describes the clinic-pathological features of MM patients in Ghana at diagnosis, and the factors affecting their survival.

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An association between genetic variants in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) was previously reported in women of African ancestry (AA). We sought to examine associations between genetic variants in VDR and additional genes from vitamin D biosynthesis and pathway targets (EGFR, UGT1A, UGT2A1/2, UGT2B, CYP3A4/5, CYP2R1, CYP27B1, CYP24A1, CYP11A1, and GC). Genotyping was performed using the custom-designed 533,631 SNP Illumina OncoArray with imputation to the 1,000 Genomes Phase 3 v5 reference set in 755 EOC cases, including 537 high-grade serous (HGSOC), and 1,235 controls.

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Breast density is a modifiable factor that is strongly associated with breast cancer risk. We sought to understand the influence of newer technologies of full-field digital mammography (FFDM) on breast density research and to determine whether results are comparable across studies using FFDM and previous studies using traditional film-screen mammography. We studied 24,840 screening-age (40-74 years) non-Hispanic white women who were participants in the Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health of Kaiser Permanente Northern California and underwent screening mammography with either Hologic (Hologic, Inc.

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Article Synopsis
  • Thymidylate synthase (TYMS) is important for DNA synthesis and is regulated by an antisense mRNA called ENOSF1, which affects tumor growth if disrupted.
  • A study investigated the genetic variant rs495139 for its potential link to mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC), using data from over 15,000 ovarian cancer patients, including 665 with MOC, but found no significant association in the independent sample.
  • Meta-analysis hinted at a weak connection between rs495139 and MOC risk, especially noting a positive correlation with ENOSF1 expression in normal gastrointestinal tissues, while its impact on tumors is uncertain.
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Article Synopsis
  • Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a major cause of cancer deaths in women, and the study explores how variations in small GTPase genes may impact EOC risk.* -
  • Researchers analyzed genetic data from over 44,000 participants to find that specific variants in genes ARHGEF10L and AKAP6 are linked to increased risk for certain types of EOC.* -
  • The findings suggest that these genetic variants might influence EOC susceptibility by affecting gene regulation, indicating a need for further studies to confirm these associations.*
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