Genetic study of Common Hereditary Bowel Cancers in Hispania and the Americas

Objective

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is common in both sexes, has relatively poor outcome and has no major avoidable risk factor. Recent studies have shown that common inherited single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can increase cancer risk. We have shown CRC risk to be associated with SNPs on chromosomes 8q24.21 15q14 and 8q21. These variants account for <5% of the genetic risk of CRC, but will be very important when their effects are added to those of other, as-yet undetected CRC SNPs. A few genome-wide association studies (GWASs) based on populations of European descent are trying to identify the remaining common CRC genes. Evidence suggests that these studies will not be large enough on their own to detect all CRC SNPs, as: relative risks associated with most SNPs are modest; some disease alleles are rare, at least in Europe; and many variants may lie outside conventional gene boundaries or haplotype blocks. The admixed LA population provides an exciting opportunity to identify new CRC genes that are more tractable to detection in LA, or have been missed by chance in European studies. We shall undertake a combined GWAS and admixture mapping study for CRC predisposition genes in 6,000 LA cases and 6,000 controls. We shall test the disease-associated variants in 3,500 cases and 3,500 controls from Europe. We aim primarily to detect SNPs with effects in both LA and Europe, but also SNPs with effects specific to LA. Eventually, we aim to develop a polymorphism panel for predicting the risk of CRC in the general population, so that those at increased risk can be offered effective measures to prevent cancer. CRC is increasing in frequency in LA and prognosis is poorer than in Europe. We shall use our project as a focus for education about CRC, especially in LA. The study will also provide training for young LA researchers. Our work will provide a direct benefit to medical science and the populations of LA and Europe.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology colorectal cancer
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics nucleotides
• natural sciences biological sciences genetics chromosomes

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

• Cancer education Training in laboratory gneetics
• Colorectal cancer
• Common polymorphisms
• Genetics Inherited predisposition
• High-throughput genotyping
• Targeting screening

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-HEALTH - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Health

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• HEALTH-2007-2.4.1-14 - Studying cancer aetiology in Latin America

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-HEALTH-2007-B
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

CP-SICA - Collaborative project for specific cooperation actions dedicated to international cooperation partner countries (SICA)

Coordinator

Participants (9)