Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 76 variants associated with prostate cancer risk predominantly in populations of European ancestry. To identify additional susceptibility loci for this common cancer, we conducted a meta-analysis of >10 million SNPs in 43,303prostate cancer cases and 43,737 controls from studies in populations of European, African, Japanese and Latino ancestry. Twenty-three novel susceptibility loci were revealed at P<5×10-8; 15 variants were identified among men of European ancestry, 7 from multiethnic analyses and one was associated with early-onset prostate cancer. These 23 variants, in combination with the known prostate cancer risk variants, explain 33% of the familial risk of the disease in European ancestry populations. These findings provide new regions for investigation into the pathogenesis of prostate cancer and demonstrate the utility of combining ancestrally diverse populations to discover risk loci for disease.

Because of the long lag time before risk of these tumors is reduced among ex-smokers, smoking may affect early stage carcinogenesis. The increase in smoking prevalence during the first two thirds of this century may be reflected in the rising incidence of these tumors in the past few decades among older individuals. The recent decrease in smoking may not yet have had an impact.

Background: Incidence rates have risen rapidly for esophageal adenocarcinoma and moderately for gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, while rates have remained stable for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and have declined steadily for noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma. We examined anthropometric risk factors in a population-based casecontrol study of esophageal and gastric cancers in Connecticut, New Jersey, and western Washington. Methods: Healthy control subjects (n = 695) and case patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma or noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma (n = 589) were frequency-matched to case patients with adenocarcinomas of esophagus or gastric cardia (n = 554) by 5-year age groups, sex, and race (New Jersey only). Classification of cases by tumor site of origin and histology was determined by review of pathology materials and hospital records. Data were collected using in-person structured interviews. Associations with obesity, measured by body mass index (BMI), were estimated by odds ratios (ORs). All ORs were adjusted for geographic location, age, sex, race, cigarette smoking, and proxy response status. Results: The ORs for esophageal adenocarcinoma rose with increasing adult BMI. The magnitude of association with BMI was greater among the younger age groups and among nonsmokers. The ORs for gastric cardia adenocarcinoma rose moderately with increasing BMI. Adult BMI was not associated with risk

Our results provide little evidence that living in homes characterized by high measured time-weighted average magnetic-field levels or by the highest wire-code category increases the risk of ALL in children.

We conducted a population-based study of 627 patients with biliary tract cancers (368 of gallbladder, 191 bile duct, and 68 ampulla of Vater), 1037 with biliary stones, and 959 healthy controls randomly selected from the Shanghai population, all personally interviewed. Gallstone status was based on information from self-reports, imaging procedures, surgical notes, and medical records. Among controls, a transabdominal ultrasound was performed to detect asymptomatic gallstones. Gallstones removed from cancer cases and gallstone patients were classified by size, weight, colour, pattern, and content of cholesterol, bilirubin, and bile acids. Of the cancer patients, 69% had gallstones compared with 23% of the population controls. Compared with subjects without gallstones, odds ratios associated with gallstones were 23.8 (95% confidence interval (CI), 17.0 -33.4), 8.0 (95% CI 5.6 -11.4), and 4.2 (95% CI 2.5 -7.0) for cancers of the gallbladder, extrahepatic bile ducts, and ampulla of Vater, respectively, persisting when restricted to those with gallstones at least 10 years prior to cancer. Biliary cancer risks were higher among subjects with both gallstones and self-reported cholecystitis, particularly for gallbladder cancer (OR ¼ 34.3, 95% CI 19.9 -59.2). Subjects with bile duct cancer were more likely to have pigment stones, and with gallbladder cancer to have cholesterol stones (Po0.001). Gallstone weight in gallbladder cancer was significantly higher than in gallstone patients (4.9 vs 2.8 grams; P ¼ 0.001). We estimate that in Shanghai 80% (95% CI 75 -84%), 59% (56 -61%), and 41% (29 -59%) of gallbladder, bile duct, and ampulla of Vater cancers, respectively, could be attributed to gallstones. Cancers of the biliary tract encompass those arising from the gallbladder, extrahepatic bile ducts, and ampulla of Vater. Biliary cancer is relatively uncommon in most parts of the world, although high-risk populations and upward incidence trends have been reported in certain areas . Although gallstones are a well-documented risk factor for gallbladder cancer (Diehl, 1983(Diehl, , 1991Zatonski et al, 1997;Lazcano-Ponce et al, 2001;Hsing et al, 2006), their role in cancers of the extrahepatic bile duct and ampulla of Vater is less established.From 1972 to 1994, biliary tract cancer was the most rapidly rising malignancy in Shanghai , involving all three subsites, both sexes, and all age groups. We therefore conducted a population-based case -control study there in 1997 to 2001 to assess the role of gallstones for each biliary cancer subsite. MATERIALS AND METHODS Cancer casesThe study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards at both the National Cancer Institute and the Shanghai Cancer Institute. Informed consent was obtained for all subjects. Patients with primary biliary tract cancer (ICD9 156), newly diagnosed between June 1997 and May 2001, were identified through a rapid-reporting system established between the Shanghai Cancer Institute and 42 collaborating hospitals in 10 urban districts of Shanghai (henceforth r...