The Molecular Biomarkers and Reproducibility Working Group

Over the past decades, cancer research has used biochemical markers with the aim of better defining exposure, improving early detection, and refining susceptibility, to better understand the etiology of the disease and to improve its treatment and survival.

The large and diverse collection of the EPIC biobank and the optimal long-term storage of its biological specimens (liquid nitrogen) enable the measurements of pre-diagnostic biomarkers of exposure, recovery, and prediction (from serum, plasma, and red blood cells) and provide the opportunity to study genetic susceptibility (by extracting DNA from buffy coats) to perform studies at the forefront of research. The long follow-up of the EPIC cohort is key for the identification of potential markers of early detection.

The aim of the Molecular Biomarkers and Reproducibility Working Group is to gather molecular epidemiologists and laboratory scientists to discuss the development and implementation of new biomarkers in the context of large-scale epidemiological studies, using cutting-edge technologies.

Because in EPIC a second blood sample was collected some years after recruitment from a subset of the same participants, the Working Group has established a programme of research to measure selected biomarkers in blood samples on these repeated samples. As of early 2014, the biomarkers under investigation were sex hormones, insulin-like growth factors, B vitamins, vitamin D, thyroid hormones, and metabolic profile assessed by targeted and untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy.

 

Selected publications

  1. Viallon V, His M, Rinaldi S, Breeur M, Gicquiau A, Hemon B, et al. (2021). A new pipeline for the normalization and pooling of metabolomics data. Metabolites. 11(9):631. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11090631 PMID:34564446
  2. Loftfield E, Stepien M, Viallon V, Trijsburg L, Rothwell JA, Robinot N, et al. (2021). Novel biomarkers of habitual alcohol intake and associations with risk of pancreatic and liver cancers and liver disease mortality. J Natl Cancer Inst. 113(11):1542–50. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djab078 PMID:34010397
  3. Al-Delaimy WK, Jansen EH, Peeters PH, van der Laan JD, van Noord PA, Boshuizen HC, et al. (2006). Reliability of biomarkers of iron status, blood lipids, oxidative stress, vitamin D, C-reactive protein and fructosamine in two Dutch cohorts. Biomarkers. 11(4):370–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13547500600799748 PMID:16908443
  4. Achaintre D, Buleté A, Cren-Olivé C, Li L, Rinaldi S, Scalbert A (2016). Differential isotope labeling of 38 dietary polyphenols and their quantification in urine by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Chem. 88(5):2637–44. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b03609 PMID:26814424
  5. Carayol M, Licaj I, Achaintre D, Sacerdote C, Vineis P, Key TJ, et al. (2015). Reliability of serum metabolites over a two-year period: a targeted metabolomic approach in fasting and non-fasting samples from EPIC. PLoS One. 10(8):e0135437. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135437 PMID:26274920

     

Contact details/Working Group leaders

Sabina Rinaldi, PhD
Nutrition and Metabolism Branch (NME)
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO)
25 avenue Tony Garnier
CS 90627
69366 LYON CEDEX 07
France
RinaldiS@iarc.who.int

Timothy Key, DPhil
Cancer Epidemiology Unit
University of Oxford
Oxford OX3 7LF
United Kingdom
tim.key@ndph.ox.ac.uk