EPIC Working Groups - Cancer Working Groups

The Thyroid Cancer Working Group

The incidence of thyroid carcinomas has been dramatically increasing over the past 20—30 years in many industrialized countries, making it the second most common cancer after breast cancer in young women. A large part of this increase has been due to diagnostic improvements, but other changes may be involved. Little is known about thyroid cancer etiology so far; exposure to ionizing radiation (especially during childhood) and history of benign thyroid disease are the only well-established risk factors for differentiated thyroid carcinomas (the most common forms of thyroid cancer).

The aim of the EPIC Thyroid Cancer Working Group is to explore the associations between nutrition, lifestyle, and reproductive factors with risk of thyroid carcinomas to be able to identify of modifiable risk factors to improve thyroid cancer prevention. This is done through the analyses of questionnaire-based data and measured anthropometric variables, as well as through the measurement of selected biomarkers in prospectively collected biological samples.

Current activities of the Working Group include studies on intakes of fish, fruit and vegetables, coffee and tea, polyphenols, adipokines and inflammationThe Working Group also joined the NCI Pooling Project on anthropometry and thyroid cancer risk.


Selected publications:

  1. Zamora-Ros R, Cayssials V, Franceschi S, Kyrø C, Weiderpass E, Hennings J, Sandström M, Tjønneland A, Olsen A, Overvad K, Boutron-Ruault MC, Truong T, Mancini FR, Katzke V, Kühn T, Boeing H, Trichopoulou A, Karakatsani A, Martimianaki G, Palli D, Krogh V, Panico S, Tumino R, Sacerdote C, Lasheras C, Rodríguez-Barranco M, Amiano P, Colorado-Yohar SM, Ardanaz E, Almquist M, Ericson U, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Vermeulen R, Schmidt JA, Byrnes G, Scalbert A, Agudo A, Rinaldi S. Polyphenol intake and differentiated thyroid cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Int J Cancer. 2020 Apr 1;146(7):1841-1850. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32589. Epub 2019 Aug 7.

  2. Zamora-Ros R, Alghamdi MA, Cayssials V, Franceschi S, Almquist M, Hennings J, Sandström M, Tsilidis KK, Weiderpass E, Boutron-Ruault MC, Hammer Bech B, Overvad K, Tjønneland A, Petersen KEN, Mancini FR, Mahamat-Saleh Y, Bonnet F, Kühn T, Fortner RT, Boeing H, Trichopoulou A, Bamia C, Martimianaki G, Masala G, Grioni S, Panico S, Tumino R, Fasanelli F, Skeie G, Braaten T, Lasheras C, Salamanca-Fernández E, Amiano P, Chirlaque MD, Barricarte A, Manjer J, Wallström P, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Peeters PH, Khaw KT, Wareham NJ, Schmidt JA, Aune D, Byrnes G, Scalbert A, Agudo A, Rinaldi S. Coffee and tea drinking in relation to the risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Eur J Nutr. 2019 Dec;58(8):3303-3312. doi: 10.1007/s00394-018-1874-z. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

  3. Dossus L, Franceschi S, Biessy C, Navionis AS, Travis RC, Weiderpass E, Scalbert A, Romieu I, Tjønneland A, Olsen A, Overvad K, Boutron-Ruault MC, Bonnet F, Fournier A, Fortner RT, Kaaks R, Aleksandrova K, Trichopoulou A, La Vecchia C, Peppa E, Tumino R, Panico S, Palli D, Agnoli C, Vineis P, Bueno-de-Mesquita HBA, Peeters PH, Skeie G, Zamora-Ros R, Chirlaque MD, Ardanaz E, Sánchez MJ, Ramón Quirós J, Dorronsoro M, Sandström M, Nilsson LM, Schmidt JA, Khaw KT, Tsilidis KK, Aune D, Riboli E, Rinaldi S.Adipokines and inflammation markers and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma: The EPIC study. Int J Cancer. 2018 Apr 1;142(7):1332-1342. doi: 10.1002/ijc.31172. Epub 2017 Dec 20.

Contact details/Working Group leader

Sabina Rinaldi, PhD
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO)
25 avenue Tony Garnier
CS 90627
69366 LYON CEDEX 07
France