The Cancer Research Program is investigating environmental factors in human cancers and how host factors (genetic, epigenetic, health status, obesity, and other social and behavioral factors) influence the carcinogenic process. Research is focused on air pollution effects on breast and lung cancer etiology and survival, pesticides and hormonally related cancers, and ultraviolet radiation exposures and skin cancers. A major initiative of the Research Program has leveraged the prospective Multiethnic Cohort conducted in Hawaii and California, a unique resource developed at the University of Southern California and maintained for studies of cancer epidemiology by the Norris Cancer Center.

Recent Highlights

• Using address geocodes in studies of air pollution, breast cancer was associated with near-roadway pollution, NO2 and PM effects that were stronger among African American and Japanese American women in the Multiethnic Cohort. New studies utilizing this cohort include: 

(1) ambient air pollution and lung cancer/COPD susceptibility; 

(2) persistent endocrine disrupting chemicals exposure and liver and pancreatic cancer; and 

(3) nonpersistent endocrine disrupting chemicals exposure (e.g. urinary phthalates, bisphenol A) and breast cancer.

• Investigators are studying the role of ultraviolet exposure in childhood cancers and in developing interventions to prevent exposure, using novel ultraviolet dosimetry to measure momentary exposures in community and clinical populations.