Vitamin D Pooling Project Rarer Cancer Consortium
The Vitamin D Pooling Project Rarer Cancer Consortium (VDPP Consortium) is
conducting analyses of associations between serum vitamin D concentrations
and the development of certain rarer cancers — pancreatic, ovarian, upper
gastrointestinal, endometrial, and renal cancers, and lymphoma. This consortium
consists of a group of investigators from 10 prospective epidemiologic cohorts. Eight
of the cohorts are funded by the Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program
(EGRP), Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), and two
of the cohorts are funded by the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
(DCEG), which is the intramural (in-house) epidemiology research component
of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The VDPP Consortium is an initiative
of the Cohort Consortium (CoCo),
an international collaboration of investigators responsible for more than 30
independently funded population cohorts who partner to conduct gene-environment
studies of cancer. The VDPP Consortium was funded by EGRP in the fall of
2007 and held its first meeting in November of that year in Bethesda, MD (pictured).
Study Design
The investigators are measuring serum 25-hydroxyvitamin
D (25(OH)D), which is considered to be the best indicator of nutritional vitamin
D status, in the 10 participating cohorts, and analyzing this indicator in
relation to the six cancers. The
research is being conducted in the context of a nested case-control design, with
cases of each type of cancer compared to age-, gender-, race- and month/season-matched
controls. Findings from this study have the potential to offer greater understanding
of the role of vitamin D in development of rarer cancers. The project includes
about 5,100 cases and 5,100 matched controls.
A core set of covariates, collected
at the time of blood draw for each cohort and from follow-up questionnaires,
will be obtained and considered in the analyses. These covariates are gender,
age at blood draw, season/date of blood draw, geographic region, race/ethnicity,
family history of cancer, body mass index, physical activity, dietary intake
(especially calcium), supplement use, NSAID/aspirin use, smoking habits, alcohol
use, sun exposure history, hormone therapy use and menopausal status (women
only), and birthplace. Information on other
covariates, such as reproductive health variables for the women’s cancers,
could also be incorporated.
The investigators will first conduct assays for
25(OH)D on identified cases and matched controls to examine the associations
between pre-diagnostic 25(OH)D levels and development of the cancers. All
plasma/serum samples will be sent directly to Heartland Assays, Inc., for 25(OH)D
analyses. The investigators also will examine
regional, latitude, and ethnic differences in the associations as well as predictors
of vitamin D levels. For quality control purposes, samples of ‘normal’ or ‘low’ levels
of the vitamin D standard (SRM 972 Vitamin D in Human Serum) from the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be included in every batch
from each cohort.
Pooled analyses will be conducted of associations between
25(OH)D and the cancers incorporating any already existing case-control data
on such associations from the participating cohorts who have previously analyzed
vitamin D and the association with these cancer sites.
Participating Cohorts
The following principal investigators
and cohorts are participating in the VDPP Consortium. Note that the principal
investigators of the VDPP Consortium often are not the same individuals who
are the principal investigators of the established cohorts.
ACS
Cancer Prevention Study-II
Marji McCullough, Sc.D., R.D.
American Cancer Society
Alpha-Tocopherol
Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study
Demetrius Albanes, M.D.
DCEG, NCI
Clue I and II (Give Us a Clue to Cancer)
Kathy Helzlsouer, M.D., M.H.S.
Mercy Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University
Health Professionals
Follow-up Study
Francine Laden, Sc.D.
Harvard University
Multiethnic Cohort Study
Laurence Kolonel, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Hawaii
NYU Women's Health Study
Anne Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, M.D., M.S.
New York University Medical Center
Nurses' Health Study
Susan Hankinson, Sc.D.
Harvard University
Prostate, Lung, Colorectal,
and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial
Mark Purdue., Ph.D.
DCEG, NCI
Shanghai Men’s
Health Study
Xiao Shu, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University Center for Health Services Research
Shanghai Women’s
Health Study
Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University Center for Health Services Research
Steering Committee Chair:
Kathy Helzlsouer, M.D., M.H.S.
Mercy Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University
Data Coordinating Center Representative:
Stephanie Weinstein, Ph.D.
DCEG, NCI
Laboratory Contact:
Ron Horst, Ph.D.
Heartland Assays, Inc., Iowa
NCI Investigators:
Christine Berg, M.D., Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP);
Michal Freedman,
J.D., M.P.H., Ph.D , DCEG;
Patricia Hartge, Sc.D., DCEG;
Nonye Harvey, M.P.H.,
EGRP, DCCPS;
Britt Reid, D.D.S., Ph.D., EGRP, DCCPS;
Deborah Winn, Ph.D., EGRP,
DCCPS
NCI EGRP Consultant:
Virginia (Ginny) Hartmuller, Ph.D., R.D.
Questions? Contact:
Nonye Harvey, M.P.H., EGRP, DCCPS,
NCI
Stephanie Weinstein, Ph.D., DCEG,
NCI
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