Research
Quebec Research Program for Prostate Cancer Prevention
This research is funded through the GRePEC Environment-Cancer Program, a partnership between the Cancer Research Society, the Quebec Government and the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé ($4.7M). A vast research program was set up, building on data collected as part of the “Case-control study of environmental, occupational, lifestyle factors and genetic susceptibility biomarkers in the etiology of prostate cancer” which was initially funded by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute in 2002 ($1.9M).
Prostate cancer continues to be the most frequently occurring cancer among Canadian men. Each year, about 24,000 Canadian men are diagnosed with this cancer and 4,100 die from it. Although prostate cancer has a very good prognosis, many cancer survivors will have to cope, as a result of their disease or treatment, with lasting side effects seriously impairing their quality of life. The unfavorable circumstances that follow a diagnosis of prostate cancer clearly highlight the need to find ways to prevent this disease; this, in turn, means identifying modifiable risk factors. Efforts to elucidate the risk factors for prostate cancer have met with little success to date. The only established risk factors are the age, the ancestry and a family history of the disease. The temporal and geographic distributions of prostate cancer provide compelling evidence that its etiology involves environmental influences. Occupational agents and lifestyle represent potential environmental risk factors that are both promising and under-studied. Moreover, susceptibility genes are at the cutting edge of prostate cancer research.
In the context of a population-based case-control study carried out in Montreal, we recruited 2,000 incident cases of prostate cancer and 2,000 controls from the general population. Interviews have been carried out to explore the role of some 300 substances encountered in the workplace. Other occupational factors under scrutiny include night work and stress at work. Moreover, we are assessing the role of several lifestyle factors for which more evidence needs to be accrued, i.e., physical activity (occupational, household, recreational), sexual habits, lifetime body size and abdominal obesity, baldness patterns, smoking, and alcohol. We are also assessing the role of exposures in the residential environment of study subjects. DNA samples have allowed us to carry out genome-wise association study and we plan to assess the role of relevant genetic polymorphisms (mainly carcinogen metabolizing and hormone-related genes); these may influence susceptibility to prostate cancer either alone, or in combination with occupational or lifestyle risk factors. This research infrastructure, perhaps the largest of its kind in the world, represents a unique and long-range research effort into prostate cancer prevention. Statistical analyses of data are on-going.
Other affiliations
Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal
Other on-going projects
Occupational exposure to silica, diesel and gasoline engine emissions and incident kidney cancer in Canadian men (Funded by the Ministry of Labour of Ontario, PI: P. Villeneuve)
Impact of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on the risk of lymphoma (Funded by the CCSRI, PI: M-C Rousseau)
Occupational exposure to diesel and gasoline engine emissions and the incidence of colorectal and bladder cancer in Canadian men (Funded by the Work Safety Insurance Board of Ontario, PI: S. Harris)
Analysis of a Montreal case-control study of occupational and non-occupational risk factors for lung cancer (Funded by CIHR, Co-PIs: J. Siemiatycki and M-É Parent).
Risk of lung cancer related to occupational and recreational physical activity and to dietary intake of flavonoids (Funded by the CCSRI, PI: A. Koushik).
Non-specific stimulation of the immune function during childhood and risk of asthma (Funded by the FRQS, PI: M-C Rousseau).
Case-control study of cellular phone use and risk of tumors of the brain, parotid gland and acoustic nerve (Funded by CIHR, Montreal Co-PIs: J. Siemiatycki and M-É Parent).
Occupational exposures and brain cancer (Funded by NIH, PI: E. Cardis).
Pooled analysis of case-control studies on the joint effects of occupational carcinogens in the development of lung cancer: Montreal component (Funded by the German Statutory Accident Insurance – DGUV, PI : A. Koushik).
Education and training
PhD, Nutrition / Epidemiology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC
MSc, Nutrition / Epidemiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
BSc, Nutrition, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC
Selected scientific and management committees
Member, Research Advisory Board, Prostate Cancer Canada (2012-pr.)
Director-at-Large-Research, National Board of Directors, Canadian Cancer Society (2010-13)
Member, Science Advisory Board, Health Canada (2010-13)
Member, Advisory Council on Research, Canadian Cancer Society (2011-13)
Member, Board of Directors, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (2009-pr.)
Member, Board of Directors, Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (2008-11).
Vice-Chair & member of the Board of Directors (2005-2006) and regular member (2003-2004), Management Committee, Prostate Cancer Research Initiative, National Cancer Institute of Canada.
Member or chair on several Peer-Review Panels for CIHR, FRQS, NCIC, CCSRI, the National Toxicology Program (NIEHS-NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NIH). (2000-pr.)
Member, Editorial Board, Cancer Epidemiology (2009-pr.)
Participation in International Consortia
Member, PRACTICAL Consortium – Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer Associated Alterations in the Genome, Coordinated at the University of Cambridge, UK
Member, African American Prostate Cancer (AAPC) Consortium, coordinated at the University of South Carolina, US
Selected publications
1. Blanc-Lapierre A., Karakiewicz P.K., Aprikian A., Saad F., Spence A., Parent M.-É. Metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer risk in a population-based case-control study in Montreal, Canada. BMC Public Health 2015;15:913. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2260-x
2. Boehm K., Sun M., Larcher A., Blanc-Lapierre A., SchiffmannJ., Graefen M., Sosa J., Saad F., Parent M.-É., Karakiewicz P.I. Waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, body mass index and prostate cancer risk: Results from the North-American case-control study Prostate Cancer and Environment Study. Urologic Oncology 2015 Aug 13. pii: S1078-1439(15)00349-X. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2015.07.006. [Epub ahead of print]
3. Boehm K., Valdivieso R., Meskawi M., Larcher A., Schiffman J., Sun M., Graefen M., Saad F., Parent M.-É., Karakiewicz P.K. Prostatitis, other genitourinary infections and prostate cancer: Results from a population-based case-control study. World Journal of Urology 2015 Jun 25. pii: S1078-1439(15)00349-X. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2015.07.006. [Epub ahead of print]
4. El-Zein M., Conus F., Benedetti A., Parent M.-É., Rousseau M.-C. Evaluating the validity of a two-stage sample in a birth cohort established from administrative databases. Epidemiology Oct 1 Epub ahead of print]
5. Shekarrizfard M., Shamsunnahar Y., Valois M.-F., Goldberg M., Ross N., Parent M.-É., Hatzopoulou M. Investigating the role of transportation models in epidemiologic studies of traffic related air pollution and health effects. Environmental Research 2015;140:282-291. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2015.04.002. [Epub ahead of print]
6. Valdivieso R., Boehm K., Meskawi M., Larcher A., Tian Z., Parent M.-É., Wong P., Graefen M, Montorsi F, Sun M, Saad F, Karakiewicz PI. Patterns of use and patient characteristics: brachytherapy for localized prostate cancer in octo- and nonagenarians. World Journal of Urology 2015 Apr 9. [Epub ahead of print]
7. Boehm K., Valdivieso R., Meskawi M., Larcher A., Sun M., Sosa J., Blanc-Lapierre A., Weiss D., Graefen M., Saad F., Parent M.-É., Karakiewicz P.I. BPH – a tell-tale sign of prostate cancer? Results from Prostate Cancer and Environment Study (PROtEuS). World Journal of Urology 2015 Apr 1. [Epub ahead of print]
8. Pearce N, Blair A, Vineis P, …, Parent M-É, et al. IARC Monographs: 40 years of evaluating carcinogenic hazards to humans. Environmental Health Perspectives 2015;123:507-514. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1409149. Epub 2015 Feb 24.
9. Vallières E., Pintos J., Parent M.-É., Siemiatycki J. Occupational exposure to wood dust and risk of lung cancer in two population-based case-control studies in Montreal, Canada. Environmental Health 2015 Jan 7;14(1):1. [Epub ahead of print] 14:1 doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-14-1.
10. Weiss D., El-Zein M., Rousseau M.-C., Richard H., Karakiewicz P.I., Parent M.-É. Asthma, allergy and the risk of prostate cancer: results from the Montreal PROtEuS study. Cancer Epidemiology 2014;38:695-699. doi:10.1016/j.canep.2014.10.003.
11. Yu J., Lavoué J, Parent M-É. Sunlight exposure during leisure activities and risk of prostate cancer in Montréal, Canada, 2005-2009. BMC Public Health 2014 Jul 28;14:756. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-756.
12. Blanc-Lapierre A, Weiss D, Parent M-É. Use of oral anticoagulants and risk of prostate cancer: a population-based case-control study in Montreal, Canada. Cancer Causes & Control 2014 Sep;25(9):1159-66. doi: 10.1007/s10552-014-0417-z.
13. Spence A., Rousseau M-C., Parent M-É. Sexual partners, sexually transmitted infections, and prostate cancer. Cancer Epidemiology 2014;38:700-707. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2014.09.005.
14. Spence A., Rousseau M.-C., Karakiewicz P., Parent M.-É. Circumcision and prostate cancer: a population-based case-control study in Montreal, Canada. British Journal of Urology International 2014 Dec;114(6b):E90-8. doi: 10.1111/bju.12741.
15. Kachuri L., Villeneuve P.J., Parent M.-É., Johnson K.C., Harris S.A.,and the Canadian Cancer Registries Epidemiology Group. Occupational exposure to crystalline silica and the risk of lung cancer in Canadian men. International Journal of Cancer 2014 Jul 1;135(1):138-48. doi: 10.1002/ijc.28629. Epub 2013 Dec 7.
16. Parent M.-É., Goldberg M.S., Crouse D.L., Ross N.A., Chen H., Valois M.-F., Liautaud A. Traffic-related air pollution and prostate cancer risk in Montreal, Canada. Occupational & Environmental Medicine 2013;70:511–518. Published online March 26, 2013 as 10.1136/oemed-2012-101211
17. Parent M.-É., El-Zein M., Rousseau M.-C., Pintos J., Siemiatycki J. Night work and risk of cancer among men. American Journal of Epidemiology 2012; Nov 1: 176(9):751-9. doi: 10.1093/aje/kws318. Epub 2012 Oct 3.
18. Pintos J., Parent M.-É., Richardson L., Siemiatycki J. Occupational exposure to diesel engine emissions, and risk of lung cancer: evidence from two case-control studies in Montreal, Canada. Occupational & Environmental Medicine 2012;69:787-792. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2012-100964. Epub 2012 Jul 26.
19. Nadalin V., Kreiger N., Parent M.-É., Salmoni A., Sass-Kortsak A., Siemiatycki J., Sloan P., Purdham J. Prostate cancer and occupational whole body vibration exposure. Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2012. Oct;56(8):968-974. doi: 10.1093/annhyg/mes010. Epub 2012 Apr 26.
20. Nkosi TM, Parent M.-É., Siemiatycki J., Rousseau M.-C. Socioeconomic position and lung cancer risk: How important is the modeling of smoking? Epidemiology 2012;23:377-385. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0b013e31824d0548.
Studentship and fellowship opportunities
Students interested in pursuing M.Sc., Ph.D. or postdoctoral studies in the area of cancer epidemiology are invited to contact me at marie-elise.parent@iaf.inrs.ca
