Karmanos Cancer Institute Research Supports Role of Inflammation to Determine Lung Cancer Risk, Particularly in African-Amer...( SAN DIEGO April 14 -- Researcher...),Health

SAN DIEGO, April 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit today presented findings that support the role of inflammation in determining lung cancer risk, particularly among African-American women.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071106/KARMANOSCANCERINSTITUTELOGO )

The abstract titled, Cytokine SNPs Differentially Predict Risk of Non Small Cell Lung Cancer in African American and Caucasian Women, was given at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

The study's goal was to determine whether variation in genes in the inflammatory pathway contribute to the risk of non-small cell lung cancer, and whether there are differences by race, according to Karmanos Principal Investigator Alison L. Van Dyke, MD/PhD Candidate, Class of 2011. Genetic variation was evaluated by looking at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in cytokine genes.

Population-based cases included 95 African-American and 365 Caucasian women, aged 18-74. Each had been diagnosed with primary non-small cell lung cancer in metropolitan Detroit during a four year period. 483 controls were frequency matched to cases based on age and race. Analyses were performed separately for African-American and Caucasian women, and adjustments were made for factors such as body mass index, age and education, smoking history, family history of lung cancer and history of chronic lung disease.

"Our findings show that there is a 2.2 fold increased risk for African-American women to develop lung cancer if carrying a particular SNP in IL10 as compared to African-American women who do not," said Karmanos Associate Center Director of Population Sciences Ann Schwartz, Ph. D., M.P.H. She added that there was a decreased risk for lung cancer among Caucasian women with th
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