National Cancer Institute
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Epidemiology and Genetics Research Branch
Cancer Control and Population Sciences
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Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium

The Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium is a group of investigators from 12 prospective epidemiologic cohorts and 1 case-control study who are conducting whole genome scans of common genetic variants in order to identify markers of susceptibility to pancreatic cancer.

PanScan Group PhotoThe Consortium is an initiative of the Cohort Consortium and this study, called PanScan, was funded by NCI’s Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) in the fall of 2006.

Investigators will analyze a dense set of the most common genetic variants in the human genome, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with sufficiently high enough minor allele frequencies (MAF > 5%). The panel of SNPs is based on an analysis of common SNPs in individuals of northern European background determined by the International HapMap Project. The current panel of markers for a whole genome scan includes an estimated 550,000 SNPs and serves as markers for about 90 percent of all common SNPs in Caucasians. After completion of this project, similar studies can be conducted in other populations.

PanScan includes the following stages:

  • Researchers will first conduct a nested case-control study of 1,200 pancreatic cancer cases and 1,200 controls.
  • A subsequent validation study will genotype the top candidate SNPs in an additional 800 cases and 800 controls, with 50 percent of the cases and controls coming from the same cohorts and 50 percent from the Mayo Clinic Molecular Epidemiology of Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Study.

SNPs that are highly likely to be markers for genetic variants related to pancreatic cancer risk are expected to emerge from this study and lead to further studies of gene-gene, gene-environment, and gene-lifestyle interactions. In addition, PanScan may provide a foundation for subsequent research on understanding familial pancreatic cancer. This understanding also may lead to future investigations of fine mapping, resequence, and functionally characterization of plausible causal variants.

The PanScan investigators plan to produce several manuscripts as a part of the joint analysis of the initial scan and validation study. In addition, the genotyping results will be posted on a controlled-access Web site about the fall of 2007.

Study Participants
The following principal investigators and studies are participating in PanScan. Note that the principal investigators for PanScan often are not the same individuals who are the principal investigators of the established cohorts.

Consortium Leaders

  • Charles Fuchs, M.D., M.P.H., Harvard University
  • Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), NCI

NCI Investigators

  • Stephen Chanock, M.D.; Patricia Hartge, Sc.D.; Robert Hoover, M.D.; Mukesh Verma, Ph.D.

Questions? Please Contact

  • Geoffrey Tobias, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), NCI
  • Shannon Lynch, M.P.H. , Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP), Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), NCI

 


Last modified:
18 Jan 2008
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