Did you know that the Cancer Research Society has funded important research projects showing the importance of diet on cancer development?

Dr James Kirkland of University of Guelph has shown that a diet deficient in vitamin B3 increases the sensitivity to a known carcinogen (a cancer inducing substance). Such a deficient diet also increases the severity of anemia and leukopenia and the incidence of hematopoietic cancer. These results stress once again that what we eat can make a difference in cancer development.

Furthermore, Dr Jack Siemiatycki and his research team recently published an article confirming that excessive consumption of alcohol leads to an increased risk in the development of certain types of cancer. They found that consuming more than three alcoholic beverages per day for more than 30 years increased oesophageal and liver cancers risks by a factor of 7, stomach cancer risk by a factor of 1.8, colon cancer risk by a factor of 1.6 and prostate cancer risk by a factor of 1.5. The risks appeared higher for consumers of beer and spirits that for wine consumers.   

Article: Benedetti A, Parent M.-É, Siemiatycki J, Lifetime consumption of alcoholic beverages and risk of 13 types of cancer in men: Results from a case-control study in Montreal, Elsevier, Cancer Detection and Prevention 32(2009) 352-362.

Dr Jack Siemiatycki is the holder of the Guzzo Environment-Cancer Research Chair of the Cancer Research Society in partnership with the Université de Montréal.

Did you know that the Cancer Research Society has always funded important research projects on breast and ovarian cancer?

Dr Steven Narod of University of Toronto is the most cited scientist in the world in the field of breast cancer.

More than 10 years ago, the CRS provided research funds to Dr Narod to identify the genes responsible for the development of familial breast cancer. Dr Narod was an important member of a group of researchers that localized more precisely on human chromosome 17, a gene called BRCA1. This gene is now known to be responsible for the development of hereditary breast cancer. Thanks to funding from the CRS, Dr. Narod also participated in the identification of a second gene called BRCA2, located on human chromosome 13 that also plays a role in the development of hereditary breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

These discoveries were of prime importance since high risk patients (women having a family history of breast cancer) can now be tested before the development of any tumours. The results of these tests greatly influence future treatments, particularly by providing a choice of more radical treatments to those genetically predisposed, while sparing others less prone to develop the disease.

Also, Dr Patricia Tonin of McGill University is working at identifying other new important genes responsible for the development of breast and ovarian cancer in Canadian women having a predisposition to develop this terrible disease. Along with Dr Narod, she co-authored the studies that discovered BRCA1 and BRCA2. Still funded by the CRS today and awarded a CRS/Medical Research Council Scholarship, providing her with 5 years of financial support as a new researcher, she continues to co-operate nationally and internationally in studies to discover the genes predisposing or targeted for mutation that give rise to breast and ovarian cancer.