The Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3)

The Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3) was established in 2003 to pool data and biospecimens from nine large prospective cohorts to conduct research on gene-environment interactions in cancer etiology. The BPC3 initially focused on the association of >70 candidate genes in the Steroid Hormone Metabolism and IGF pathways with risk of breast and prostate cancer. The Consortium's work expanded in 2007 to include genome-wide association studies of estrogen receptor negative (ER-) breast cancer and aggressive prostate cancer. ER- breast cancers have specific epidemiologic characteristics and greater lethality, suggesting ER- breast cancer has a different etiology than ER+ breast cancer. Similarly, aggressive forms of prostate cancer, characterized by extraprostatic extension (Stage C/D) or high histologic grade (Gleason score 8+), differ epidemiologically from the vastly more common indolent forms of prostate cancer and are of the greatest clinical importance. By restricting cases to these specific subtypes, the BPC3 GWAS increased power to detect loci associated with ER- and aggressive prostate cancer (Kraft P and Haiman CA, Nature Genetics 2010 Oct;42:819-20, PMID: 20877320 ). The BPC3 GWAS includes the following cohorts: the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study-II (CPS-II); the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC); the Physician's Health Study (PHS); the Nurses' Health Studies I and II (NHS and NHSII); the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS); the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC); the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial; and the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene (ATBC) Study. For the GWAS of ER- cancer, the BPC3 was expanded to include the Polish Breast Cancer Study (PBCS), a population-based case-control study.]]> There is evidence that the genetic risk factors for aggressive prostate cancer may be different than those for non-Aggressive disease. We conducted genome-wide association studies of BPC3 advanced prostate cancer GWAS consist of multiple case-control studies nested within prospective cohorts that were genotyped on HumanHap550, 610 Quad, 660 Quad and 370+240K chips.There is evidence that estrogen receptor negative (ER-) breast cancer has a different etiology than ER+ breast cancer. We conducted genome-wide association studies of ER- breast cancer. The BPC3 ER- breast cancer GWAS and consist of multiple case-control studies nested within prospective cohorts that were genotyped on HumanHap550, 610 Quad, 660 Quad and 317+240K chips.All breast cancer cases were estrogen receptor negative (confirmed through medical records), and all prostate cancer cases either had high histologic grade (Gleason score ≥ 8) or extraprostatic extension (Stage C/D) (confirmed through medical records). Controls were matched to cases on gender and required to be cancer-free and alive at that matched case's age at diagnosis.]]>