This Saturday, February 4, is the World Cancer Day and the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health (CII) is joining in the fight against cancer by researching common risk factors of the disease. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, the most frequently occurring types of cancer in 2013 in Cyprus among women, were: breast (35.1%), thyroid (10.8%) and colorectal (9.2%) cancer, while in men, prostate (28.3%), lung (14.5%) and colorectal (11.5%) cancer topped the list.
Exposure to cigarette smoke, both active and passive, is considered one of the most important risk factor for lung cancer. Our Institute has extensively studied the smoking habits of Cypriot adolescents, among whom smoking is highly prevalent. Another interesting fact is the high exposures to environmental tobacco smoke among adolescents highlighting the need for stricter enforcement of antismoking laws. Air pollution, which was recently included in the list of carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has also been a major research field for CII with studies in urban settings of Cyprus. Obesity, a known risk factor for various types of cancer, is linked with lifestyle choices such as unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity and is another of the Institute’s research focuses. This goes along with potential micronutrient deficiencies such as iodine, which have been linked to thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer development. Additionally, exposures to environmental chemicals such as hexavalent chromium and its effects on carcinogenicity have been studied in human populations around Oinofyta, Athens in collaboration with researchers from the University of Athens.
Besides population and environmental studies, CII has evaluated the robustness of observational associations between various biomarkers and cancer risk. It was found that among all possible reported associations, most well-documented biomarkers of cancer risk without evidence of bias pertain to infectious agents. Moreover, in the area of genetics, the Institute participated in the PRACTICAL consortium, to assess if genetic traits are associated with other characteristics and affect the risk of aggressive prostate cancer. It was found that a specific polymorphism (SNP rs16844874) may provide preliminary genetic evidence on the role of the glycine pathway in prostate cancer etiology.
More information on the current research themes and the post-graduate studies offered by the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health are available on our website: http://www.cut.ac.cy/cii
Κυκλοφόρησε το ενημερωτικό έντυπο «Πληροφορίες για υποψήφιους μεταπτυχιακούς φοιτητές επιπέδου Μάστερ 2018/2019»
This Saturday, February 4, is the World Cancer Day and the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health (CII) is joining in the fight against cancer by researching common risk factors of the disease. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, the most frequently occurring types of cancer in 2013 in Cyprus among women, were: breast (35.1%), thyroid (10.8%) and colorectal (9.2%) cancer, while in men, prostate (28.3%), lung (14.5%) and colorectal (11.5%) cancer topped the list.
Exposure to cigarette smoke, both active and passive, is considered one of the most important risk factor for lung cancer. Our Institute has extensively studied the smoking habits of Cypriot adolescents, among whom smoking is highly prevalent. Another interesting fact is the high exposures to environmental tobacco smoke among adolescents highlighting the need for stricter enforcement of antismoking laws. Air pollution, which was recently included in the list of carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has also been a major research field for CII with studies in urban settings of Cyprus. Obesity, a known risk factor for various types of cancer, is linked with lifestyle choices such as unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity and is another of the Institute’s research focuses. This goes along with potential micronutrient deficiencies such as iodine, which have been linked to thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer development. Additionally, exposures to environmental chemicals such as hexavalent chromium and its effects on carcinogenicity have been studied in human populations around Oinofyta, Athens in collaboration with researchers from the University of Athens.
Besides population and environmental studies, CII has evaluated the robustness of observational associations between various biomarkers and cancer risk. It was found that among all possible reported associations, most well-documented biomarkers of cancer risk without evidence of bias pertain to infectious agents. Moreover, in the area of genetics, the Institute participated in the PRACTICAL consortium, to assess if genetic traits are associated with other characteristics and affect the risk of aggressive prostate cancer. It was found that a specific polymorphism (SNP rs16844874) may provide preliminary genetic evidence on the role of the glycine pathway in prostate cancer etiology.
More information on the current research themes and the post-graduate studies offered by the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health are available on our website: http://www.cut.ac.cy/cii
