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Background: Large-scale international collaboration is essential to decipher relevant information in the context of omics-scale interrogations in cancer research. This is even more important for rare and fatal diseases like pancreas cancer (PC). Methods: The COST Action BM1204 is a unique platform to facilitate the collaboration of a broad range of European and international PC multidisciplinary research groups in order to: (1) integrate knowledge and experience in a multidisciplinary way ‘from cell to society', (2) promote the application of uniform study tools and protocols, (3) foster their optimal use by early-stage researchers, (4) enhance the mobility and training of researchers, and (5) disseminate the results produced to the broader society. Results: This Action will develop novel interdisciplinary tools for collaborative research to improve our understanding of PC and its prevention, diagnosis and treatment. It also aims to answer questions related to the etiology, early detection, evidence-based and personalized treatment, and health management for PC. Furthermore, the Action will contribute to new insights into PC personalized medicine and beyond as well as to the understanding of complex and rare diseases taking PC as a best practice example. The Action aims at attracting young scholars across a range of disciplines in collaboration with more experienced researchers and enhancing active European participation in the international scenario of PC research. Conclusion: The ultimate aim is to foster PC research in Europe and to coordinate this effort with other international initiatives to reduce disease mortality.

The International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium is a collaboration of research groups leading large epidemiology studies to improve the understanding of the causes and mechanisms of head and neck cancer. The consortium includes investigators of 35 studies who have pooled their data on 25 500 patients with head and neck cancer (i.e., cancers of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, and larynx) and 37 100 controls. The INHANCE analyses have confirmed that tobacco use and alcohol intake are key risk factors of these diseases and have provided precise estimates of risk and dose response, the benefit of quitting, and the hazard of smoking even a few cigarettes per day. Other risk factors include short height, lean body mass, low education and income, and a family history of head and neck cancer. Risk factors are generally similar for oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx, although the magnitude of risk may vary. Some major strengths of pooling data across studies include more precise estimates of risk and the ability to control for potentially confounding factors and to examine factors that may interact with each other. The INHANCE consortium provides evidence of the scientific productivity and discoveries that can be obtained from data pooling projects. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Lucenteforte, E La Vecchia, C Silverman, D Petersen, G M Bracci, P M Ji, B T Bosetti, C Li, D Gallinger, S Miller, A B Bueno-de-Mesquita, H B Talamini, R Polesel, J Ghadirian, P Baghurst, P A Zatonski, W Fontham, E Bamlet, W R Holly, E A Gao, Y T Negri, E Hassan, M Cotterchio, M Su, J Maisonneuve, P Boffetta, P Duell, E J eng CA098889/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ CA108370/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ CA109767/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ CA59706/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ CA89726/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ N01-CP-05225/CP/NCI NIH HHS/ N01-CP-05227/CP/NCI NIH HHS/ N01-CP-31022/CP/NCI NIH HHS/ N01-CP-51089/CP/NCI NIH HHS/ N01-CP-51090/CP/NCI NIH HHS/ N01-CP-51092/CP/NCI NIH HHS/ N01-PC-35136/PC/NCI NIH HHS/ Meta-Analysis Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2011/05/04 06:00 Ann Oncol. 2012 Feb;23(2):374-82. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdr120. Epub 2011 May 2.; International audience; BACKGROUND: Heavy alcohol drinking has been related to pancreatic cancer, but the issue is still unsolved. METHODS: To evaluate the role of alcohol consumption in relation to pancreatic cancer, we conducted a pooled analysis of 10 case-control studies (5585 cases and 11,827 controls) participating in the International Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium. We computed pooled odds ratios (ORs) by estimating study-specific ORs adjusted for selected covariates and pooling them using random effects models. RESULTS: Compared with abstainers and occasional drinkers (< 1 drink per day), we observed no association for light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (/= 9 drinks per day). Results did not change substantially when we evaluated associations by tobacco smoking status, or when we excluded participants who reported a history of pancreatitis, or participants whose data were based upon proxy responses. Further, no notable differences in pooled risk estimates emerged across strata of sex, age, race, study type, and study area. CONCLUSION: This collaborative-pooled analysis provides additional evidence for a positive association between heavy alcohol consumption and the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Objective: To evaluate the strength of the evidence provided by epidemiological literature investigating drinking pattern as effect modifier of alcohol intake on the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Design: Meta-analysis of observational studies. Data sources: Medline, citation tracking, from 1966 to 2006. Review methods: Original studies investigating the amount of alcohol intake, combined with the frequency of alcohol consumption and/or pattern of alcohol drinking affecting the risk of CHD were extracted. Among them, cohort and case–control studies reporting sufficient data to perform statistical analyses and using people who abstained from alcohol as the reference were included. Results: Six (4 cohort and 2 case–control) out of 118 studies reviewed met the inclusion criteria. Compared with those who abstained from alcohol, regular heavy drinkers and heavy irregular or binge drinkers showed significantly different pooled relative risks of 0.75 (95% confidence interval 0.64 to 0.89) and 1.10 (1.03 to 1.17) respectively. The dose–response relation between the amount of alcohol intake and CHD risk was significantly different in regular and irregular drinkers. A J-shaped curve, with nadir around 28 grams of alcohol per week, and last protective dose of 131 grams per week, was obtained including drinkers who consumed alcohol for 2 days a week or less. Conversely, in people who consumed alcohol for more than 2 days a week a significant protective effect was seen even when drinking high amounts of alcohol. Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggests that binge and heavy irregular drinking modify the favourable effect of alcohol intake on the CHD risk. However, this conclusion should be taken with caution because of the small number of studies considered.

[Abstract] Cancer mortality rates and trends over the period 1980-2000 for accession countries to the European Union (EU) in May 2004, which include a total of 75 million inhabitants, were abstracted from the World Health Organization (WHO) database, together with, for comparative purposes, those of the current EU. Total cancer mortality for men was 166/100 000 in the EU, but ranged between 195 (Lithuania) and 269/100 000 (Hungary) in central and eastern European accession countries. This excess related to most cancer sites, including lung and other tobacco-related neoplasms, but also stomach, intestines and liver, and a few neoplasms amenable to treatment, such as testis, Hodgkin's disease and leukaemias. Overall cancer mortality for women was 95/100 000 in the EU, and ranged between 100 and 110/100 000 in several central and eastern European countries, and up to 120/100 000 in the Czech Republic and 138/100 000 in Hungary. The latter two countries had a substantial excess in female mortality for lung cancer, but also for several other sites. Furthermore, for stomach and especially (cervix) uteri, female rates were substantially higher in central and eastern European accession countries. Over the last two decades, trends in mortality were systematically less favourable in accession countries than in the EU. Most of the unfavourable patterns and trends in cancer mortality in accession countries are due to recognised, and hence potentially avoidable, causes of cancer, including tobacco, alcohol, dietary habits, pollution and hepatitis B, plus inadequate screening, diagnosis and treatment. Consequently, the application of available knowledge on cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment may substantially reduce the disadvantage now registered in the cancer mortality of central and eastern European accession countries. [authors]

Trends in mortality from cancer of the gall-bladder and bile ducts over the period 1965-1989 were analysed for 25 European countries on the basis of official death certifications from the World Health Organization databank. A high-mortality area--i.e. with overall death certification rates, world standard, around or over 2/100,000 men and 4/100,000 women in 1985-1989--was identified in Germany and the surrounding central European countries (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland). The highest rates were in Hungary (3.9/100,000 men and 7.4/100,000 women). During the two decades considered, rates increased in Czechoslovakia and Hungary, remained stable in Poland and declined in Austria and Germany. Intermediate-mortality areas included Scandinavian countries (except Norway) and Switzerland: their rates in the late 1980s were between 1.5 and 2.5/100,000 men and between 2.2 and 4.2/100,000 women. Mortality increased in Finland and Sweden, declined in the Netherlands and Switzerland, and did not change consistently in Denmark. Low-mortality countries (i.e. with rates in 1985-1989 below 2.0/100,000 men and 2.5/100,000 women) included Belgium, France, Britain, Ireland, Norway, Bulgaria and Mediterranean countries. Over the last two decades, certification rates declined in Bulgaria and Great Britain, but increased in all other countries. The ratio between the countries with the highest and lowest gall-bladder cancer mortality rates declined from 21 to 12 in women, although they remained stable around 10 for men. The pattern was similar when analysis was restricted to truncated rates from patients aged between 35 and 64 years. These trends, and particularly the exceedingly high rates in central Europe, the low rates in Mediterranean countries and the low and declining rates in Britain and Ireland are discussed in terms of known (cholelithiasis) or potential (dietary) factors in gall-bladder cancer aetiology, and of trends in cholecystectomy rates.