豆类食品的摄入可预防肺癌的发生，且这种保护作用对亚洲非吸烟女性肺腺癌尤为明显；同时表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）与雌激素受体（ESR）两个重要的信号通路在肺癌的发生与预后中存在联合作用，且它们可能在豆类食品对肺癌保护作用的介导过程中扮演关键角色。但迄今为止，其相应的生物学机制仅局限于动物实验和体外实验，缺乏相应的人群分子流行病学证据。为此本项目首次从人群基因易感性角度出发，采用以人群为基础的病例-对照、病例-亲本对照和无对照病例研究等方法，探讨饮食中豆类食品的摄入、ESR2基因多态性、EGFR基因多态性及其两两之间的交互作用对非吸烟女性肺癌发生的影响，试图为豆类食品对女性肺癌保护作用机制，以及EGFR与ESR两个信号通路在肺癌发生中的潜在联合作用提供人群证据，为女性肺癌的一级预防措施的制定提供依据。本次研究成果对降低女性肺癌风险具有重要的机制学意义和公共卫生学意义。

Soy intake may be associated with lower lung cancer risk, and such a protective effect appeared to be confined to East Asian populations, women, never smokers, and lung adenocarcinoma. In addition, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway and estrogen receptor (ESR) signaling pathway may have a synergic effect in lung cancer development and prognosis; moreover, these two signaling pathways may be the primary mediator in the soy-lung cancer association. However, the pertinent mechanisms are only restricted to in vitro and animal in vivo studies and lack of evidence from molecular epidemiological study. We thus use the population-based case-control, case-parental control, and case-only designs to investigate the association of EGFR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), ESR2 SNPs, dietary soy intake, and their potential interactions with the lung cancer risk among female non-smokers. We believe that the findings of our research will provide guidelines for lung cancer primary prevention, as well as the clues to the biological mechanisms of the putative protective effect of soy consumption and the potential synergic effect of EGFR and ESR signaling pathways in the development of lung cancer.