Mutation and Environmental Exposures

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DESCRIPTION (Provided by Applicant) Elevated mortality rates of lung cancer along the Mississippi River in Louisiana have been documented for 50 years and are among the highest in the nation. The Lower Mississippi River interagency Cancer Study (LMRICS, Elizabeth T. H. Fontham, Dr. P. H., PI) is funded by the EPA to conduct a population-based case-control study of lung cancer in the river parishes. LMRICS will collect tumor samples and exposure data for analysis. The ACS has funded Jay D. Hunt, III, Ph.D. to test the hypothesis that the elevated incidence of lung cancer in the river parishes is associated with chronic exposure to occupational and environmental chemical carcinogens, in addition to tobacco carcinogens, in susceptible individuals as defined by specific phase I and phase II genetic polymorphisms resulting in mutations in key regulatory genes in somatic cells. This funded project will provide the necessary research experience for Dr. Hunt's career development as a molecular epidemiologist. Dr. Elizabeth Fontham will serve as Dr. Hunt's mentor. This application proposes a structured approach to Dr. Hunt obtaining formal training in epidemiology and biostatistics. With this formal training in epidemiology and biostatistics, he will be able to obtain his long-term goals of integrating his training in molecular genetics with molecular epidemiology. Dr. Hunt's long-term career goals are: (1) to continue in his academic, full- time tenure-track position conducting basic and translational molecular genetics studies of non-small cell lung cancer and stomach cancer; (2) to integrate the findings at the bench to develop new biomarkers of prognosis and progression in lung cancer and stomach cancer; and (3) to further develop a molecular epidemiology program in cancer for the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center at LSUHSC-New Orleans.