[Impact of nutritional factors during and after cancer].

Nutritional factors (diet, weight, alcohol, physical activity) are identified as factors having an impact on the onset of several cancer sites. Less abundant scientific data also underline their impact on the tumor progression. A review of the scientific literature was carried out by a group of experts established by the French National Cancer Institute (INCa) to better document the influence of nutritional factors during and after cancer on outcomes such as overall mortality, cancer specific mortality, recurrence, second primary cancers and quality of life.

[Viral oncogenesis and genomic instability: the centr(osom)al connection].

Currently, more than 10% of human cancers are associated with viral infection. Studies on oncoviruses led to the development of clinical intervention strategies and elucidated fundamental cellular events altered upon cell transformation. Cancer cells exhibit several hallmarks including genomic instability, defined as a high frequency of mutations including gain or loss of chromosomes.

[Obesity and Cancer].

In the past decades, obesity and overweight prevalence has been rising worldwide, in both men and women. In France, the prevalence of overweight in adults was 49% in 2015 (54% among men and 44% among women), including 17% of obese adults. According to the last evaluation performed by IARC in 2017, overweight and obesity are established risk factors for 13 cancer sites with risk estimates per 5kg/m varying largely depending on the cancer site.

[Free circulating DNA as a tool for lung cancer patients management].

Free circulating DNA (cfDNA) has been known for several decades. These small DNA fragments are released into the circulation from nucleated cells through necrosis, apoptosis and/or active secretion. These genomic fragments are mainly constitutional (nucleated blood cell DNA), but in patients with cancer, a fraction comes from tumor cells.

EPI-CT: in vitro assessment of the applicability of the γ-H2AX-foci assay as cellular biomarker for exposure in a multicentre study of children in diagnostic radiology.

Purpose: To conduct a feasibility study on the application of the γ-H2AX foci assay as an exposure biomarker in a prospective multicentre paediatric radiology setting.

Materials And Methods: A set of in vitro experiments was performed to evaluate technical hurdles related to biological sample collection in a paediatric radiology setting (small blood sample volume), processing and storing of blood samples (effect of storing blood at 4°C), the reliability of foci scoring for low-doses (merge γ-H2AX/53BP1 scoring), as well as the impact of contrast agent administration as potential confounding factor. Given the exploratory nature of this study and the ethical constraints related to paediatric blood sampling, blood samples from adult volunteers were used for these experiments.

[Testicular germ cell tumours and early exposures to pesticides: The TESTEPERA pilot study].

Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) represent the most frequent cancer in men aged between 15 and 45 years. Current hypotheses are focusing on environmental exposures occurring during prenatal periods. However, very few studies have explored intra-uterine environmental exposure related to TGCT.

[New insights in oncology: epigenetics and cancer stem cells].

Cancer is a multi-etiologic, multistage disease with a prevalent genetic component, which happens when a large number of genes, critical for cell growth, death, differentiation, migration, and metabolic plasticity are altered irreversibly, so as to either "gain" (oncogenes) or "lose" (tumour suppressors) their function. Recent discoveries have revealed the previously underestimated etiologic importance of multiple epigenetic, that is to say, reversible factors (histone modifications, DNA methylation, non-coding RNA) involved in the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of proteins, indispensable for the control of cancerous phenotype. Stable alterations of epigenetic machinery ("epimutations") turn out to play a critical role at different steps of carcinogenesis.

[Cancer epidemiology after the Chernobyl accident].

The radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident, on 26 April 1986, has caused contamination of very wide areas of the northern hemisphere, in particular in Europe, causing chronic exposure of millions of people to a mixture of external and internal radiation. This paper summarizes the epidemiological studies published to date on the risks of cancer following the Chernobyl accident. An increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer observed among those exposed in childhood and adolescence in the most contaminated territories of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine is at present the only scientifically demonstrated radiation-related increase in cancer incidence.

[Smoking (active or passive) in relation to fertility, medically assisted procreation and pregnancy].

Maternal and paternal smoking are associated with numerous problems of reproduction and pregnancy. Among men, active smoking reduces the quality and mobility of the spermatozoa which could result in loss of fertility. It also increases the risk of impotence.

[Epidemiology of lung carcinoma].

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world, either in terms of incidence or mortality, and it is still increasing in particular in the developing world and among women. The vast majority of lung cancers are due to tobacco smoking and therefore primary prevention through efficient tobacco control is possible. Occupational carcinogens are also recognised and the role of environmental exposures remains to be defined.

[Epidemiological data and radiation risk estimates].

The results of several major epidemiology studies on populations with particular exposure to ionizing radiation should become available during the first years of the 21(st) century. These studies are expected to provide answers to a number of questions concerning public health and radiation protection. Most of the populations concerned were accidentally exposed to radiation in ex-USSR or elsewhere or in a nuclear industrial context.

[Alcohol and cancer].

Regular consumption of alcoholic beverages increases the risk of cancer in the upper aero-digestive tract and in the liver. There is a dose-response relationship and the effects are combined with those of tobacco, according to a multiplicative model. The biologic mechanisms are unclear.

[Epidemiology of uterine cancers].

Uterine cancers comprise 2 distinct pathological entities: cancer of the cervix and cancer of the corpus. They differ both in descriptive and etiologic epidemiology. Cervical cancer is more frequent in the developing world, is decreasing in terms of incidence and even more mortality in many countries and has essentially a viral etiology, being linked to human papilloma viruses.

[What do we know about ATM protein expression in breast tissue?].

The great majority of breast cancer cases are not associated with a mutated gene of high penetrance such as BRCA1, BRCA2 and TP53. Genes of low penetrance, frequently mutated in the general population, might play an important role in breast cancer development. The ATM gene, which encodes the ATM protein, mutated in the disorder ataxia telangiectasia (AT) could be such a susceptibility gene.

[Plasma insulin, IGF-I and breast cancer].

Several recent epidemiological studies have shown an increase in breast cancer risk among women who have elevated plasma levels of testosterone, reduced levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and hence elevated levels of bioavailable androgens and estrogens not bound to SHBG. This endocrine profile is generally associated with obesity and chronic hyperinsulinemia, of which it is most likely a result. Lack of physical activity, obesity, and a diet rich in rapidly digestible carbohydrates and poor in fibre favour the development of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia.

[Cannabis and cancer].

Several publications have recently suggested a relationship between cannabis use and certain types of cancer. We gathered information on the latest findings on the subject. A manual and computerized bibliographic search on cannabis and cancer was conducted.

[Screening for cancer: what's new?].

Setting up of screening programmes for cancers has been the result of evaluation studies but even more of the existence (or non existence) of national policies for cancer control. We know for sure that mammographic screening can reduce breast cancer mortality in women from age 50 onwards, smear screening has a favourable impact on cervical cancer mortality and incidence, and faecal blood testing in stools may reduce colon cancer mortality. Other questions, considered for a long time as settled, are coming back, either because new data are available, such as in screening for breast cancer before age 50, or because new screening methods are being proposed, such as for lung cancer.

[Chemoprevention of breast cancer by tamoxifen: should we still ask this question?].

Pharmacoprevention of cancer is an attractive concept. For breast cancer, several trials were set up some years ago. The largest one was stopped before its planned date of closure and demonstrated an early appearing reduction in breast cancer occurrence; in contrast, the other two trials did not find such a protective effect.

[Evaluation and comparison of tobacco control legislation in member states of the European Union].

Background: Nowadays, tobacco use represents the main cause of avoidable deaths in Europe. Public health authorities have several means at their disposal to fight against this epidemic. For instance, legislative action can operate on the supply side as well as on the demand side, with the aim of reducing tobacco consumption in the targetted populations.

[Current epidemiology of vulvar cancer].

Cancer of the vulva is a rare disease accounting for only 3 to 5% of all gynaecologic cancers. The incidence rates of this cancer vary depending upon the country considered, the lowest rates being reported for Asian and African populations. An increased incidence of in situ carcinomas of the vulva has been noted recently among young women.

[P53 at the atomic scale: the multiple faces of a crystal].

The p53 protein is a transcription factor activated in response to DNA-damaging agents (such as chemical or physical carcinogens) and which plays multiple role in the control of proliferation and survival of cells exposed to genotoxic stress. Recent developments in the analysis of the crystal structure of p53 help us to understand the exact role of the various domains of the protein, as well as the impact of the mutations which are frequently found in cancers. In the future, this structural approach may significantly contribute to the interpretation of the pathological consequences of p53 mutations.