Project Funding Details

Lay abstract (no permission to release technical abstract): Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer in Canada and the leading cause of cancer death. The identification of individuals at high-risk despite low levels of exposure due to differences in their genes may lead to the development of improved prevention strategies. It has been proposed that lung cancer in never smokers may be caused by completely different biological processes and is potentially caused more heavily by an inflammation response to environmental exposures. Using data from several studies sites in multiple continents we will examine the particular effects that inflammatory genetics have on lung cancer development. Many advanced statistical techniques will allow us to determine the relative importance of thousands of variations in the gene sequences of both smoking and never smoking lung cancer cases by comparing them with healthy controls. We will investigate whether the presence and activity of some inflammatory genes leads to an increase in lung cancer risk when certain environmental and personal exposures are present among both smokers and never smokers. Previous lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia and asthma are a major source of inflammation in the lungs. We will also use a large amount of pooled data from 15 studies to provide an important estimate of the risk of lung cancer associated with these previous lung diseases. The overall goal of the study is to identify potential inflammation inducing exposures and the genetic regions responsible for eventual lung cancer development. Identification of these factors will allow for potential future risk factor avoidance and lung cancer prevention.

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