The Halifax Project: Chemical Mixtures and Cancer

描述（由申请人提供）：癌症是发达国家的第二大死亡原因。越来越多的证据表明，大多数癌症不仅仅是由于遗传，而是由于某些环境暴露的结果。这并不是说遗传学不重要，因为个体对化学品或其他暴露的敏感性不同。有各种各样的环境暴露，最重要的包括辐射和致癌化学品。每个人都暴露在自然和人为来源的辐射之下。在我们的食物、饮用水和空气中有致癌的化学物质。接触发生在家中、工作场所和休闲活动中，因此，每个人都接触到致癌物的混合物。还有生物致癌物，包括某些病毒、细菌和寄生虫。我们对癌症原因的大部分知识来自动物，细胞甚至人类研究，每次只关注一种致癌物质。在真实的世界中，每个人都暴露在致癌物质的混合物中。哈利法克斯项目的目标是聚集来自世界各地的专家，集中关注环境混合物的致癌作用。将成立11个小组，每个小组处理一种特定形式的细胞级中断。参与者将被分成小组，重点关注特定的“癌症标志”（血管生成;代谢失调;逃避抗生长信号;遗传不稳定性;免疫系统逃避，复制永生;抗凋亡;组织侵袭和转移;肿瘤微环境;肿瘤促进炎症），并将为每个团队确定一名首席科学家。每个小组将查明已知会有选择地破坏指定机制的环境和/或职业化学品接触，并考虑使用“癌症标志”框架的影响，以评估破坏性环境因子混合物的贡献，用于风险评估目的。这些审查将在会议之前以草稿形式编写。该文件将介绍该小组就其分配的主题得出的结果和结论。一旦定稿，这些评论将发表在《致癌作用》杂志的特刊上。已经就出版会议记录达成了协议。该委员会的所有成员都将被列为作者。迄今为止，已有265人表示有兴趣参加，并表明了他们希望参加11个工作组中的哪一个。申请者来自33个国家，大多数将是自费的。申请的资金将用于国际专家，特别是来自发展中国家的专家，以及妇女、少数种族/族裔、残疾人和其他科学家或传统上在科学领域代表性不足的学生的旅费支助。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer is the second leading cause of death in developed countries. There is increasing evidence that most cancers are not due solely to genetics, but are rather a consequence of some environmental exposure. This is not to say that genetics are unimportant, because individuals vary in their susceptibility to chemical or other exposures. There are a variety of environmental exposures, and the most significant include radiation and carcinogenic chemicals. Everyone is exposed to radiation from natural and man-made sources. There are carcinogenic chemicals in our food, drinking water, and air. Exposure occurs at home, at the job and through leisure activities, and consequently each person is exposed to a mixture of carcinogenic exposures. There are also biological carcinogens, including certain viruses, bacteria and parasites. Much of our knowledge of causes of cancer come from animal, cellular and even human studies focused on one carcinogen at a time. In the real world, every human being is exposed to a mixture of carcinogenics. The goal of the Halifax Project is to assemble experts from around the world to focus attention on carcinogenesis of environmental mixtures. Eleven teams will be formed, each dealing with a specific form of cellular-level disruption. Participants will be placed into teams that will focus on specific "hallmarks of cancer" (angiogenesis; deregulated metabolism; evasion of anti-growth signaling; genetic instability; immune system evasion, replicative immortality; resistance to apoptosis; tissue invasion and metastasis; tumor microenvironment; tumor promoting inflammation), and a lead scientist will be identified for each team. Each team will identify environmental and/or occupational chemical exposures that are known to selectively disrupt the assigned mechanism, and consider the implications of using the "hallmarks of cancer" framework to assess the contributions of mixtures of disruptive environmental agents for risk assessment purposes. These reviews will be prepared in draft form in advance of the conference. The document will present the results and conclusions of the team on their assigned subject. Once finalized, these reviews will be published in a special issue of the journal, Carcinogenesis. An agreement to publish the conference proceedings has already been established. All members of the workgroup will be listed as authors. To date, 265 persons have expressed interest in attending and have indicated in which of the eleven workgroups they hope to participate. The applicants represent 33 countries, and most will be self-supported. Funds requested will be used for travel support for international experts, especially those from developing countries, as well as for women, racial/ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, and other scientists or students who have been traditionally underrepresented in science.