| > |
The Center of Excellence
in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has been awarded
$2.3 million over the next four years to study biological
indicators of exposure to cigarette smoke. |
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The grant is part of the National Institutes
of Health new Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI).
The GEI represents a unique collaboration between geneticists
and environmental health scientists. |
| > |
In this first round of awards genetic
studies were funded by the National Human Genome Research
Institute and biomarker studies were funded by the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. |
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The researchers propose to screen smokers,
non-smokers and those regularly in contact with second-hand
smoke for a variety of biochemical markers. The plan is to
develop a panel of biochemicals, or biomarkers, that indicate
if a person has been exposed to smoke to then distinguish
between a group of non-smokers and disease-free tobacco smokers. |
(PHILADELPHIA) – The Center
of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has
been awarded $2.3 million over the next four years to study biological
indicators of exposure to cigarette
smoke. The grant is part
of the National Institutes of Health new Genes,
Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The GEI represents a unique collaboration
between geneticists and environmental health scientists. In this
first round of awards genetic studies were funded by the National
Human Genome Research Institute and biomarker studies were funded
by the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences.
Exposure to tobacco smoke – both mainstream and second-hand – is
a leading cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoke contains
about 3,800 chemical constituents, including polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can cause lung, skin, and bladder
cancer. What’s
more, tobacco smoke is associated with cardiovascular
disease, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, and pancreatic
disease, and is likely
responsible for more deaths than any other environmental exposure.
“Only one in ten smokers get lung cancer, but the five-year survival
rate after diagnosis is only 15 percent,” says Trevor
M. Penning, PhD, CEET’s director. “The question is, how can we intervene
earlier to identify people most at risk. We aim to look at the interaction
of genetic susceptibility to lung cancer and biomarkers of exposure to
cigarette smoke. At the end of the day, if we study genetics and exposure
together, we’ll hopefully have a very strong statement to say who
is most at risk.”
“This could be like measuring cholesterol for preventing heart
disease,” says principal investigator Ian
Blair, PhD, Professor
and Vice Chair of the Department
of Pharmacology. “If, for example,
a certain chemical change is seen in a smoker’s DNA, it might inspire
them to give up smoking. You could show them a biomarker panel and say, ‘Here’s
your DNA on smoking and here’s DNA without smoking.’ This
is my vision.” Blair is also the Director of Penn’s Center
for Cancer Pharmacology.
The researchers propose to screen smokers, non-smokers and those regularly
in contact with second-hand smoke for a variety of biochemical markers.
Previous studies have shown that chemical changes arise within the body,
from the tissue level down to the DNA level in people who smoke or who
have been exposed to smoke, but this association has never been studied
on a large scale with reliable biomarkers.
The plan is to develop a panel of biochemicals, or biomarkers, that
indicate if a person has been exposed to smoke to then distinguish between
a group of non-smokers and disease-free tobacco smokers. They will test
for the presence of these chemicals in smokers’ blood, urine, and
breath. These studies will provide important base-line data for subsequent
studies that will relate cigarette smoke exposure to incidence and genetic
susceptibility to tobacco-related disease of the lung and cardiovascular
system.
The Penn program has already implemented patient recruitment through
the participation of Anil Vachani, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine.
It is anticipated that substantial new information will become available
on the presence of various biomarkers so that Andrea
Troxel, PhD, Associate
Professor of Biostatistics, can assess their potential utility. In addition
to determining conventional lipid and DNA biomarkers, a discovery program
will be implemented in collaboration with Don Baldwin,
PhD, Director
of the Penn Microarray Core
Facility, in order to identify potential
protein biomarkers.
The Principal Investigators from each of the funded projects in the
GEI will meet at the National Institutes of Health in December 2007 so
that the projects can benefit from the individual expertise of the various
participants. Annual meetings between the investigators will then take
place over the course of the four years of funded research. It is anticipated
that panels of new biomarkers will emerge from these meetings and that
the biomarkers will prove to be critical for future studies designed
to monitor the adverse effects of gene-environment interactions.
The Penn studies will be complimentary to an earlier award made by the
Pennsylvania Department of Health to the CEET, which aims to identify
lung cancer susceptibility genes in smokers.
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