Grantee Research Project Results
Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Studies
EPA Grant Number: R834511C001Subproject: this is subproject number 001 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R834511
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment - 2015
Center Director: Metayer, Catherine
Title: Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Studies
Investigators: Buffler, Patricia
Current Investigators: Buffler, Patricia , Metayer, Catherine
Institution: University of California - Berkeley , University of California - San Francisco , Stanford University
Current Institution: University of California - Berkeley
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: September 25, 2009 through September 24, 2015
RFA: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers (with NIEHS) (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Children's Health , Human Health
Objective:
Leukemia is the most common cancer in children under 15 years of age. Despite years of research, the causes of childhood leukemia (CL) remain elusive. Due to their well-characterized carcinogenicity and toxicity, parental tobacco smoking and home pesticide exposures are frequently studied in CL. Though some studies have suggested a link between CL and parental tobacco smoking or home pesticides exposure, no definite conclusion can be reached due to inconsistent results likely resulted from problems associated with small sample size in individual studies. To overcome the limitations associated with the small sample size of individual studies, the proposed study will pool data (N~8000 cases and 18000 controls) from 14 case-control studies from 10 countries within the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC) to: 1) conduct descriptive analyses to assess geographical differences in the frequency of leukemia subtypes; 2) assess the association between maternal/paternal smoking or home pesticide exposures and CL during different time periods (prenatal, during pregnancy, and postnatal) stratified by histologic, immunophenotypic. and cytogenetic subtypes; 3) examine the influence of genetic variation on the association between parental smoking or home pesticide exposures and CL by histologic, immunophenotypic and cytogenetic subtypes; and 4) maintain the CLIC website (http://clic.berkeley.edu) to facilitate communication among CLIC members and outside communities. Interview-based exposure data on parental smoking and home pesticides will be standardized across studies. Genetic data will be ascertained from 8 of the 14 studies focusing on 12 polymorphisms of seven xenobiotic metabolizing (CYP1A1, GSTM1, GSTTI, GSTPl, NQ01, and EPHX1) and drug transporter genes (MDR). In addition, availability and quality assessment of cytogenetic data will be conducted to facilitate subtype analyses. A two-stage data pooling method will be used to combine data across studies to account for study-specific covariates and inter-study heterogeneity.
Expected Results:
The proposed analyses will enhance our understanding of the roles of parental tobacco smoking and home pesticide exposur etiology of childhood leukemia. This will have important implications for prevention of CL.
Supplemental Keywords:
House dust, biomarkers, dried blood spot, exposure assessment, risk assessment, sensitive population, carcinogens, population, infants, children, genetic pre-disposition, genetic susceptibility, Hispanics, PAH, PCB, PBDE, nicotine, pesticides, public policy, decision making, community-based, public health, environmental epidemiology, genetics, toxicology, biostatistics, epigenetic, modeling, gene-environment interaction, measurement methods, California, international,Progress and Final Reports:
Main Center Abstract and Reports:
R834511 Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment - 2015 Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R834511C001 Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Studies
R834511C002 Exposure Assessment for Childhood Leukemia
R834511C003 Prenatal Exposures, DNA Methylation & Childhood Leukemia
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.