title: Challenges and opportunities in research on early-life events/exposures and cancer development later in life.
abstract: It is becoming increasingly evident that early-life events and exposures have important consequences for cancer development later in life. However, epidemiological studies of early-life factors and cancer development later in life have had significant methodological challenges such as the long latency period, the distinctiveness of each cancer, and large number of subjects that must be studied, all likely to increase costs. These traditional hurdles might be mitigated by leveraging several existing large-scale prospective studies in the United States (US) and globally, as well as birth databases and birth cohorts, in order to launch both association and mechanistic studies of early-life exposures and cancer development later in life. Dedicated research funding will be needed to advance this paradigm shift in cancer research, and it seems justified by its potential to produce transformative understanding of how cancer develops over the life-course. This in turn has the potential to transform cancer prevention strategies through interventions in early-life rather than later in life, as is the current practice, where it is perhaps less effective.
authors.affiliation: Modifiable Risk Factors Branch, Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. mahabir@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Somdat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahabir
authors.forename: Kjersti
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aagaard
authors.forename: Lucy M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Zdenko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Herceg
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hiatt
authors.forename: Robert N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Hoover
authors.forename: Martha S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Linet
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Potischman
authors.forename: Steinar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tretli
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trichopoulos
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Troisi
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors