The exposome and cancer risk in the EPIC cohort – Results from recent metabolomics studies

Pan-Cohort metabolomics – The future of population health
Virtual event 2nd February 2020
The exposome and cancer risk in the EPIC cohort – Results from recent metabolomics studies

Part 4:
Dr. Augustin Scalbert
Group Head | Biomarkers Group
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France

Major risk factors for cancer have been identified but the causes of several types of cancer remain largely unknown. Metabolomic approaches can be used to measure hundreds to thousands of metabolites in blood or urine and to explore the role of environmental exposures in cancer etiology. Exogenous metabolites derived from diet, drugs, contaminants or microbiota, provide direct information on exposures. Endogenous metabolites whose levels can be influenced by environmental exposures provide information on biochemical mechanisms linking exposures to cancer. Both were measured using both targeted and untargeted metabolomics approaches in various studies nested in the European Prospective Investigation on Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Applied to case-control studies, these studies revealed new associations between metabolites such as amino acids, lipids, and xenobiotics with cancer outcomes, several years before diagnosis. The same metabolomics approaches applied to cross-sectional studies led to the discovery of novel biomarkers of exposure for cancer risk factors and body habitus useful to assess exposures not easily measured with questionnaires. Recent results obtained in the EPIC cohort will be presented and specific areas where methodological progress in metabolomics is more particularly needed will be discussed.

The tool Dr. Scalbert introduces in this video can be found here: