Request for Applications (RFA) overview
Two RFAs have been funded to date. The background and expected outcomes from the these are described below
Biomarker Research RFA 2009
In 2009 World Cancer Research Fund International launched a call for proposals for the development and evaluation of biomarkers relevant to the influence of food, nutrition (including body fatness) and physical activity on cancer. This RFA was awarded to Professor Le Marchand, from the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, USA.
Background and Context
Nutritional epidemiology research provides a direct approach to the assessment of risk from diet, body fatness and physical activity in humans, but there are well known limitations related to conventional measurement methods of exposure. The limitations of the current tools lead to considerable measurement error, which affects the magnitude of the risk estimates and even the ability to detect an association. Objective markers of these exposures are critically needed. In addition, the identification of better markers of cancer risk and progression is critical. Markers of early life exposures related to food, nutrition and physical activity, that influence cancer risk are also of great relevance.
What is a Biomarker?
The focus of this call was on identifying and validating biomarkers relevant both to exposure (diet, nutrition – including body fatness - and physical activity) and cancer risk. A biomarker is defined as a measurement using biological material (including blood and urine) that:
1. provides an accurate reflection of short, medium or long term exposure to dietary constituents demonstrably relevant to the development, progression or recurrence of cancer
OR
2. reliably indicates the presence of otherwise undetected cancer or precancerous lesions, or of processes involved in the development, progression or recurrence of cancer relevant to food, nutrition or physical activity.
Outcomes
Identifying and validating robust biomarkers of relevant exposures is a high priority as there are few such biomarkers for limited dietary factors. New technologies offer considerable potential for identifying novel markers that might practically be included in clinical or epidemiological studies. Measures that more accurately and precisely characterise dietary intake, relevant metabolic processes or other nutritional states, or physical activity, and also identify risk of relevant cancer outcomes including incidence, progression and recurrence, have important potential application in better establishing the relationships between such exposures and outcomes in future studies. A major goal of this RFA is to develop and validate any such biomarkers.
Asian RFA 2011
In February 2011, World Cancer Research Fund International launched a call for proposals that focuses on the relationship between body fatness and cancer risk in Asian populations in contrast to non-Asian populations. This RFA was awarded to Dr Wu Ming, from the Jiansu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China.
Background and Context
There is convincing evidence that greater degrees of body fatness increase risk of several cancers (World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. Food Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer, A Global Perspective. Washington DC: AICR, 2007). The evidence comes from epidemiological as well as mechanistic studies. Biological pathways identified include the insulin-IGF axis, endogenous sex hormones, inflammation and inflammatory cytokines, and their molecular and genetic interactions.
Greater body fatness convincingly increases risk of cancers of the colorectum, oesophagus (adenocarcinoma), pancreas, breast (postmenopause), endometrium, kidney and gallbladder, and in addition greater abdominal fatness, specifically, probably increases risk of cancers of the pancreas, breast (postmenopause), and endometrium.
Such evidence is of global public health importance considering that the prevalence of obesity has reached epidemic levels in many parts of the world.
Why Asia?
Obesity and overweight are growing problems in Asia, including HK/China, as it transitions to a more developed and urbanised economy. However, most of the evidence linking body fatness to cancer is derived from non-Asian populations. While the biological mechanisms linking increased adiposity to cancer are unlikely to be qualitatively different across populations, the well-described differences in body size and composition, including body fat distribution of Asian populations compared with Caucasians could influence the association between body fatness and cancer. However, the data on these factors are limited.
In addition, the pattern of cancers among Asian populations is different from that in Caucasians, and the influence of body fatness on those cancers more common in Asia is relatively unexplored.
Outcomes
The characterisation of the relationships between body fatness and cancer risk among Asian populations, and the underpinning biological mechanisms - as well as how they contrast with findings from non-Asian populations - is a major goal of this RFA call.
