Each site will also recruit 600 control individuals who do not have lung cancer, even though they have the same smoking behavior and exposures to pollutants.
The study subjects will answer questions about their smoking history and exposure to airborne pollutants. These pollutants will also be mapped cartographically using GIS technologies to ascertain distribution in each study location.
Exposure to air pollutants for each subject will be analyzed together with their individual variation in approximately 100 genes. The genes to be tested are considered to be very important for dealing with the carcinogens that are known to cause lung cancer and include many of those responsible for the metabolism and detoxification of carcinogens and for repairing DNA damage caused by carcinogens, explains Whitehead.
Additionally, current exposure to nicotine and PAHs will be estimated by measuring molecules called biomarkers produced from these chemicals in the body. This is an important component to the study, especially for estimating carcinogen levels in participants who have never smoked but have been exposed to air pollutants.
Whitehead and Penning both note that urban areas that are most polluted are very often occupied by residents of lower socio-economic status and issues of health-disparity and environmental justice exist. Faculty and student interns from Lincoln University will conduct questionnaire-based surveys to identify health-care disparities between the various populations to be enrolled. In addition, they will examine how information about genetic risk is understood and acted upon by the various participating groups.
Once lung cancer is diagnosed, the five
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Contact: Karen Kreeger
karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5658
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
27-Apr-2007