{"id":137441,"date":"2021-03-19T10:52:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T20:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=137441"},"modified":"2021-03-19T10:52:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T20:52:37","slug":"uh-cancer-epidemiology-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/19\/uh-cancer-epidemiology-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"2 <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> cancer epidemiology studies highlighted nationally"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_137440\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137440\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/manoa-cancer-center-lemarchand-lim.jpg\" alt=\"headshots of le marchand and lim\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-137440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/manoa-cancer-center-lemarchand-lim.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/manoa-cancer-center-lemarchand-lim-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/manoa-cancer-center-lemarchand-lim-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-137440\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lo\u00efc Le Marchand and Unhee Lim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Two epidemiology studies led by researchers of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uhcancercenter.org\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Cancer Center<\/a> have been selected as <a href=\"https:\/\/epi.grants.cancer.gov\/news\/2021\/january-newsletter.html\">research highlights<\/a> of the National Cancer Institute\u2019s Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (<abbr>EGRP<\/abbr>). The publications were among 36 selected studies that were funded by <abbr>EGRP<\/abbr> in 2020. Both studies used data from the <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Cancer Center\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uhcancercenter.org\/mec\">Multiethnic Cohort (<abbr>MEC<\/abbr>) Study<\/a>, a large epidemiological study that follows residents of Hawai\u02bbi and Los Angeles for the development of cancer and other chronic diseases.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Related <em><abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> News<\/em> story:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/07\/cancer-multiethnic-study-2021\/\">Cancer, diabetes findings unlocked by world\u2019s most ethnically diverse study<\/a>, March 7, 2021<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This research is an example of <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/manoa-2025-strategic-plan.pdf#page=25\">Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (<span class=\"small-text\"><abbr title=\"Portable Document Format\">PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/manoa-2025-strategic-plan.pdf\">2015\u201325 Strategic Plan<\/a> (<span class=\"small-text\"><abbr title=\"Portable Document Format\">PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020. <\/p>\n<h2>Cancer risk, intra-abdominal fat<\/h2>\n<p>In one publication led by <strong>Lo\u00efc Le Marchand<\/strong>, researchers demonstrated that intra-abdominal fat, also known as visceral adipose tissue (<abbr>VAT<\/abbr>), could be predicted using common biochemical markers in blood, and that the predicted <abbr>VAT<\/abbr> was associated with cancer risk. They found that women with a high <abbr>VAT<\/abbr> score in the <abbr>MEC<\/abbr> Study were at greater risk for developing breast cancer, even at comparable levels of body weight or total body fat.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>VAT<\/abbr> is known to have more harmful metabolic effects than the fat found underneath the skin. Investigators had reported earlier that <abbr>VAT<\/abbr> amounts vary substantially by race\/ethnicity at a given body weight, which may explain obesity-related cancer disparities. &ldquo;Since accurate <abbr>VAT<\/abbr> measurement requires expensive imaging tests, the assessment of <abbr>VAT<\/abbr> based on easily measurable biomarkers, like those found in blood, is important for future studies of obesity-associated cancer and other diseases,&rdquo; said Le Marchand.<\/p>\n<h2>Gut bacteria, colorectal cancer<\/h2>\n<p>The second publication, led by <strong>Unhee Lim<\/strong>, studied the gut bacteria of <abbr>MEC<\/abbr> Study participants in relation to their levels of a blood marker, trimethylamine N-oxide (<abbr>TMAO<\/abbr>), which is known to be elevated in people who consume more animal products or who are at a higher risk for colorectal cancer. The researchers found that blood <abbr>TMAO<\/abbr> was associated with an abundance of 13 different types of gut bacteria. These included high levels of fusobacterium, an established microbial risk factor for colorectal cancer. In addition, <abbr>TMAO<\/abbr> was related to higher insulin resistance, which often leads to diabetes.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>TMAO<\/abbr> in humans is produced entirely by gut bacteria that can convert animal food components to <abbr>TMAO<\/abbr>. The researchers reported earlier that red and processed meat is the leading food source for the <abbr>TMAO<\/abbr> precursor, choline, in a typical diet. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Since red and processed meat consumption is high in certain ethnic groups that have higher incidence rates of colorectal cancer, our study provides insight into a microbial mechanism for colorectal cancer and supports dietary interventions to reduce cancer risk and improve health disparities,&rdquo; said Lim.<\/p>\n<p>Each year, the <abbr>EGRP<\/abbr> Research Highlights showcase a selection of research publications supported by grants in the <abbr>EGRP<\/abbr> grant portfolio. The <abbr>EGRP<\/abbr> funds research in human populations to understand determinants of cancer occurrence and outcomes. The program is the largest funder of cancer epidemiology grants nationally and worldwide, awarding more than 240 grants and cooperative agreements annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The studies were among 36 selected by the National Cancer Institute\u2019s Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[218,1467,1363,158,169,9],"class_list":["post-137441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-cancer","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-publication","tag-uh-cancer-center","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137441"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137520,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137441\/revisions\/137520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}