Study of Genes and the Environment in Patients With Colorectal Cancer in the East Anglia Region of the United Kingdom

A Population Based Study of Genetic Predisposition and Gene-Environment Interactions in Colorectal Cancer in East Anglia

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer.

PURPOSE: This study is looking at genetic susceptibility for cancer and interactions between genes and the environment in patients with colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVES:

• To obtain epidemiological information and biological material on a population based series of colorectal cancer cases.
• To define the proportion of colorectal cancer incidence attributable to mutations in known predisposing genes such as MLH1 and MSH2.
• To establish whether mutations at other loci may predispose to colorectal cancer, by comparing the frequency of alteration candidate genes in colorectal cancer patients with the corresponding frequency in cancer-free controls identified through the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) study.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients complete an epidemiological questionnaire. The questionnaire also requests identifying information about the patient's first-degree relatives.

Blood samples are collected from patients. DNA is extracted from these blood samples, from samples collected from cancer-free control participants in MREC-SEARCH-CONTROL, and from additional controls through the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) study (a population-based study of diet and health based in Norfolk, East Anglia). DNA samples are analyzed for polymorphisms of low penetrance cancer susceptibility genes.

In addition to the colorectal cancer patients recruited for this study, patients with breast, ovarian, prostate, colorectal, bladder, kidney, pancreatic, brain, and esophageal cancer, malignant melanoma, and lymphoma cancer are recruited for the following related clinical trials: MREC-SEARCH-BREAST, MREC-SEARCH-OVARIAN, MREC-SEARCH-PROSTATE, MREC-SEARCH-ENDOMETRIAL, and MREC-SEARCH-CANCER.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of colorectal cancer within the past 5 years
• Identified in the East Anglia region of the United Kingdom

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Identified by the patient's general practitioner as fit to contact for this study
• No serious mental illness or retardation

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• Not specified