Research Findings

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Featured publications

Smoking and colorectal cancer in Lynch syndrome: results from the Colon Cancer Family Registry and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

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In a population of patients with HNPCC, current smokers had a significantly increased risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) when compared with never smokers. Former smokers who had quit smoking for 2 or more years were at decreased risk. Colorectal cancer risk did not vary according to age at starting. Light smoking (<10 cigarettes per day), however, and shorter duration of smoking (<10 years) were associated with decreased CRC risk. For former smokers, CRC risk decreased with years since quitting (P trend <0.01).

Genetic variants in the cell cycle control pathways contribute to early onset colorectal cancer in Lynch syndrome

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We used a model to investigate the influence of polymorphisms in cell cycle genes for age of onset of colorectal cancer for patients with HNPCC. We found that the subgroup with CDKN2A C580T wild-type genotype, IGF1 CA-repeats >or=19, E2F2 variant genotype, AURKA wild-type genotype, and CCND1 variant genotype had the youngest age of onset, with a 45-year median onset age, while the subgroup with CDKN2A C580T wild-type genotype, IGF1 CA-repeats >or=19, E2F2 wild-type genotype, and AURKA variant genotype had the latest median age of onset, which was 70 years. Furthermore, we found evidence of a possible gene-gene interaction between E2F2 and AURKA genes related to CRC age of onset.