Research

  • Fibroids affect 77 percent of women by the onset of menopause in the U.S. and account for $2.1 billion in health care costs each year. Fibroids negatively impact reproductive health causing heavy and painful menses, pelvic pain and pressure, pregnancy complications, and interventions including myomectomy and hysterectomy. Until recently, tumor tissue and cell culture studies investigating fibroid growth have been the primary sources for understanding fibroid pathophysiology. Genetic analysis can provide a powerful and cost-effective tool to identify etiological and causal factors, especially since a genetic predisposition to fibroids has already been documented from twin studies. As much as 69 percent of the risk is explained by genetic factors. Racial differences also support a role for genetics with fibroid risk. African American women have an earlier age of onset, more numerous, and larger fibroids with a greater lifetime incidence compared to European Americans. We have funded projects to conduct large-scale genetic studies of fibroids that include GWAS and a large-scale sequencing (whole and exome sequencing) experiment in collaboration with Geisinger Health Systems. We have also collaborated with the eMERGE Network, 23andMe, and the UKBiobank to conduct these studies. This study also includes the evaluation of genetically predicted gene expression and phenome-wide association analyses.

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  • We are currently contributing genotype data from the BioVU DNA Resource at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to the Ovarian Cancer Consortium (OCAC). Dr. Velez Edwards is the site PI for the BVU data being contributed to OCAC. We contributed 449 ovarian cancer cases and 545 controls, which are now redeposited in BioVU and available for future studies in BioVU. We are also collaborating with Dr. Alicia Beeghly-Fadiel on studies looking at ovarian cancer survival. We welcome any collaborations to expand analyses of these data for genetic studies in BioVU. Ongoing collaboration with OCAC consortium and studies evaluating differential genetically predicted gene expression within our local BioVU ovarian cancer data.

     

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    Glubb DM, Johnatty SE, Quinn MCJ, O'Mara TA, Tyrer JP, Gao B, Fasching PA, Beckmann MW, Lambrechts D, Vergote I, Velez Edwards DR, Beeghly-Fadiel A, Benitez J, Garcia MJ, Goodman MT, Thompson PJ, Dörk T, Dürst M, Modungo F, Moysich K, Heitz F, du Bois A, Pfisterer J, Hillemanns P, , Karlan BY, Lester J, Goode EL, Cunningham JM, Winham SJ, Larson MC, McCauley BM, Kjær SK, Jensen A, Schildkraut JM, Berchuck A, Cramer DW, Terry KL, Salvesen HB, Bjorge L, Webb PM, Grant P, Pejovic T, Moffitt M, Hogdall CK, Hogdall E, Paul J, Glasspool R, Bernardini M, Tone A, Huntsman D, Woo M, Group A, deFazio A, Kennedy CJ, Pharoah PDP, MacGregor S, Chenevix-Trench G. Analyses of germline variants associated with ovarian cancer survival identify functional candidates at the 1q22 and 19p12 outcome loci. Oncotarget. 2017 Sep 9/12/2017; 8(39): 64670-84. PMID: 29029385, PMCID: PMC5630285, PII: 18501, DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.18501, ISSN: 1949-2553. 

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Genet [print-electronic]. 2017 May; 49(5): 680-91. PMID: 28346442, PII: ng.3826, DOI: 10.1038/ng.3826, ISSN: 1546-1718. 

    Kar SP, Beesley J, Amin Al Olama A, Michailidou K, Tyrer J, Kote-Jarai Z, Lawrenson K, Lindstrom S, Ramus SJ, Thompson DJ, , Kibel AS, Dansonka-Mieszkowska A, Michael A, Dieffenbach AK, Gentry-Maharaj A, Whittemore AS, Wolk A, Monteiro A, Peixoto A, Kierzek A, Cox A, Rudolph A, Gonzalez-Neira A, Wu AH, Lindblom A, Swerdlow A, , , Ziogas A, Ekici AB, Burwinkel B, Karlan BY, Nordestgaard BG, Blomqvist C, Phelan C, McLean C, Pearce CL, Vachon C, Cybulski C, Slavov C, Stegmaier C, Maier C, Ambrosone CB, Høgdall CK, Teerlink CC, Kang D, Tessier DC, Schaid DJ, Stram DO, Cramer DW, Neal DE, Eccles D, Flesch-Janys D, Edwards DR, Wokozorczyk D, Levine DA, Yannoukakos D, Sawyer EJ, Bandera EV, Poole EM, Goode EL, Khusnutdinova E, Høgdall E, Song F, Bruinsma F, Heitz F, Modugno F, Hamdy FC, Wiklund F, Giles GG, Olsson H, Wildiers H, Ulmer HU, Pandha H, Risch HA, Darabi H, Salvesen HB, Nevanlinna H, Gronberg H, Brenner H, Brauch H, Anton-Culver H, Song H, Lim HY, McNeish I, Campbell I, Vergote I, Gronwald J, Lubinski J, Stanford JL, Benítez J, Doherty JA, Permuth JB, Chang-Claude J, Donovan JL, Dennis J, Schildkraut JM, Schleutker J, Hopper JL, Kupryjanczyk J, Park JY, Figueroa J, Clements JA, Knight JA, Peto J, Cunningham JM, Pow-Sang J, Batra J, Czene K, Lu KH, Herkommer K, Khaw KT, , Matsuo K, Muir K, Offitt K, Chen K, Moysich KB, Aittomäki K, Odunsi K, Kiemeney LA, Massuger LF, Fitzgerald LM, Cook LS, Cannon-Albright L, Hooning MJ, Pike MC, Bolla MK, Luedeke M, Teixeira MR, Goodman MT, Schmidt MK, Riggan M, Aly M, Rossing MA, Beckmann MW, Moisse M, Sanderson M, Southey MC, Jones M, Lush M, Hildebrandt MA, Hou MF, Schoemaker MJ, Garcia-Closas M, Bogdanova N, Rahman N, , Le ND, Orr N, Wentzensen N, Pashayan N, Peterlongo P, Guénel P, Brennan P, Paulo P, Webb PM, Broberg P, Fasching PA, Devilee P, Wang Q, Cai Q, Li Q, Kaneva R, Butzow R, Kopperud RK, Schmutzler RK, Stephenson RA, MacInnis RJ, Hoover RN, Winqvist R, Ness R, Milne RL, Travis RC, Benlloch S, Olson SH, McDonnell SK, Tworoger SS, Maia S, Berndt S, Lee SC, Teo SH, Thibodeau SN, Bojesen SE, Gapstur SM, Kjær SK, Pejovic T, Tammela TL, , , Dörk T, Brüning T, Wahlfors T, Key TJ, Edwards TL, Menon U, Hamann U, Mitev V, Kosma VM, Setiawan VW, Kristensen V, Arndt V, Vogel W, Zheng W, Sieh W, Blot WJ, Kluzniak W, Shu XO, Gao YT, Schumacher F, Freedman ML, Berchuck A, Dunning AM, Simard J, Haiman CA, Spurdle A, Sellers TA, Hunter DJ, Henderson BE, Kraft P, Chanock SJ, Couch FJ, Hall P, Gayther SA, Easton DF, Chenevix-Trench G, Eeles R, Pharoah PD, Lambrechts D. Genome-Wide Meta-Analyses of Breast, Ovarian, and Prostate Cancer Association Studies Identify Multiple New Susceptibility Loci Shared by at Least Two Cancer Types. Cancer Discov [print-electronic]. 2016 Sep; 6(9): 1052-67. PMID: 27432226, PMCID: PMC5010513, PII: 2159-8290.CD-15-1227, DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-15-1227, ISSN: 2159-8290.