Cancer Epidemiology Unit

About: Cancer Epidemiology Unit is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 669 authors who have published 1725 publications receiving 93979 citations.

Undetected burden of tuberculosis in a low-prevalence area.

Abstract: CONTEXTE : Une insuffisance de confirmation et de declaration de tuberculose (TB) est un obstacle a la surveillance et au controle de la maladie. La detection des cas est amelioree par les liens entre des declarations dans les divers registres de cas, et la sous-declaration peut etre estimee par l'analyse capture-recapture (CR). OBJECTIFS : Evaluer dans la Region du Piedmont en Italie en 2001 le caractere complet des systemes d'enregistrement de la TB et de l'estimation de l'incidence de la TB, ainsi que les sous-declarations. METHODES: Liens entre les declarations du « systeme de declaration du medecin », du registre de laboratoire de TB et du registre des declarations hospitalieres et analyse ulterieure CR de trois echantillons. RESULTATS: Les liens entre les declarations ont identifie 657 cas de TB et l'analyse CR a estime les cas non-declares a 47 cas (IC95% 31-71). La sous-declaration du « systeme de declaration du medecin » a ete estimee a 31% (IC95% 20-23). Le taux global estime de l'incidence de la TB a ete de 16,7 cas pour 100.000 habitants (IC95% 16,3-17,3), ce qui varie en fonction du sous-groupe investigue: 12,7% pour les individus provenant de pays a faible incidence de TB et 214,1% pour les immigrants provenant de pays a haute incidence de TB; respectivement 13,1% et 25,8% chez les sujets âges < et ≥60 ans; ainsi que 32,1% a Turin, la capitale regionale et 10,8% dans le reste de la region. CONCLUSIONS: Lorsque des systemes multiples d'enregistrement sont disponibles, les liens entre les declarations et l'analyse CR peuvent etre utilises pour evaluer l'incidence de la TB et le caractere complet des differents enregistrements, ce qui contribue a une surveillance plus adequate de l'epidemiologie locale de la TB.

Cord Blood Metabolic Signatures of Birth Weight: A Population-Based Study

Abstract: Birth weight is an important indicator of maternal and fetal health and a predictor of health in later life However, the determinants of variance in birth weight are still poorly understood We aimed to identify the biological pathways, which may be perturbed by environmental exposures, that are important in determining birth weight We applied untargeted mass-spectrometry-based metabolomics to 481 cord blood samples collected at delivery in four birth cohorts from across Europe: ENVIRONAGE (Belgium), INMA (Spain), Piccolipiu (Italy), and Rhea (Greece) We performed a metabolome-wide association scan for birth weight on over 4000 metabolic features, controlling the false discovery rate at 5% Annotation of compounds was conducted through reference to authentic standards We identified 68 metabolites significantly associated with birth weight, including vitamin A, progesterone, docosahexaenoic acid, indolelactic acid, and multiple acylcarnitines and phosphatidylcholines We observed enrichment (p < 005) of the tryptophan metabolism, prostaglandin formation, C21-steroid hormone signaling, carnitine shuttle, and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways Vitamin A was associated with both maternal smoking and birth weight, suggesting a mediation pathway Our findings shed new light on the pathways central to fetal growth and will have implications for antenatal and perinatal care and potentially for health in later life

Downregulation of miR-223 Expression Is an Early Event during Mammary Transformation and Confers Resistance to CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Luminal Breast Cancer.

Abstract: miR-223 is an anti-inflammatory miRNA that in cancer acts either as an oncosuppressor or oncopromoter, in a context-dependent manner. In breast cancer, we demonstrated that it dampens the activation of the EGF pathway. However, little is known on the role of miR-223 during breast cancer onset and progression. miR-223 expression was decreased in breast cancer of luminal and HER2 subtypes and inversely correlated with patients' prognosis. In normal luminal mammary epithelial cells, miR-223 acted cell autonomously in the control of their growth and morphology in three-dimensional context. In the MMTV-Δ16HER2 transgenic mouse model, oncogene transformation resulted in a timely abrogation of miR-223 expression, likely due to activation of E2F1, a known repressor of miR-223 transcription. Accordingly, treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors, which eventually results in restraining E2F1 activity, restored miR-223 expression and miR-223 ablation induced luminal breast cancer resistance to CDK4/6 inhibition, both in vitro and in vivo. Notably, miR-223 expression was lost in microdissected ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) from patients with luminal and HER2-positive breast cancer. Altogether, these results identify downmodulation of miR-223 as an early step in luminal breast cancer onset and suggest that it could be used to identify aggressive DCIS and predict the response to targeted therapy. SIGNIFICANCE: miR-223 may represent a predictive biomarker of response to CDK4/6 inhibitors and its loss could identify DCIS lesions that are likely to progress into invasive breast cancer.