Alice S Whittemore

Postdoctoral Advisees

Baiyu Zhou

Web Site Links

• My Personal Web Site

Research Interests

Cancers of the prostate, breast and ovary account for a major proportion of new cancer cases and cancer deaths in the U.S. each year. We conduct population-based epidemiologic field studies aimed at understanding the etiologies of these cancers. The primary focus concerns the joint effects of genetic predisposition and modifiable lifestyle characteristics on cancer risk. We currently are analyzing data from a large case-control study of prostate cancer in black, white and Asian-American men. We are attempting to delineate the effects on prostate cancer risk of diet, body size, physical activity and family history of prostate cancer. We have established population-based registries of families with multiple cases of prostate cancer, and families with multiple cases of breast and/or ovarian cancer. We are using these registries for linkage analysis in search of cancer-susceptibility genes, for the study of gene-environment interactions, and for estimates of the proportions of cancers attributable to specific genes. Our recent research focus has been on developing improved statistical methods for the design and conduct of studies involving hereditary predisposition and modifiable lifestyle characteristics in the etiologies of site-specific cancers.

Publications

• Validating genetic risk associations for ovarian cancer through the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Pearce CL, Near AM, Van Den Berg DJ, Ramus SJ, Gentry-Maharaj A, Menon U, Gayther SA, Anderson AR, Edlund CK, Wu AH, Chen X, Beesley J, Webb PM, Holt SK, Chen C, Doherty JA, Rossing MA, Whittemore AS, McGuire V, DiCioccio RA, Goodman MT, Lurie G, Carney ME, Wilkens LR, Ness RB, Moysich KB, Edwards R, Jennison E, Kjaer SK, Hogdall E, Hogdall CK, Goode EL, Sellers TA, Vierkant RA, Cunningham JC, Schildkraut JM, Berchuck A, Moorman PG, Iversen ES, Cramer DW, Terry KL, Vitonis AF, Titus-Ernstoff L, Song H, Pharoah PD, Spurdle AB, Anton-Culver H, Ziogas A, Brewster W, Galitovskiy V, Chenevix-Trench G. Br J Cancer. 2009; 100 (2): 412-20
• Tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms in candidate oncogenes and susceptibility to ovarian cancer. Quaye L, Song H, Ramus SJ, Gentry-Maharaj A, Høgdall E, DiCioccio RA, McGuire V, Wu AH, Van Den Berg DJ, Pike MC, Wozniak E, Doherty JA, Rossing MA, Ness RB, Moysich KB, Høgdall C, Blaakaer J, Easton DF, Ponder BA, Jacobs IJ, Menon U, Whittemore AS, Krüger-Kjaer S, Pearce CL, Pharoah PD, Gayther SA. Br J Cancer. 2009; 100 (6): 993-1001
• Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the TP53 region and susceptibility to invasive epithelial ovarian cancer. Schildkraut JM, Goode EL, Clyde MA, Iversen ES, Moorman PG, Berchuck A, Marks JR, Lissowska J, Brinton L, Peplonska B, Cunningham JM, Vierkant RA, Rider DN, Chenevix-Trench G, Webb PM, Beesley J, Chen X, Phelan C, Sutphen R, Sellers TA, Pearce L, Wu AH, Van Den Berg D, Conti D, Elund CK, Anderson R, Goodman MT, Lurie G, Carney ME, Thompson PJ, Gayther SA, Ramus SJ, Jacobs I, Krüger Kjaer S, Hogdall E, Blaakaer J, Hogdall C, Easton DF, Song H, Pharoah PD, Whittemore AS, McGuire V, Quaye L, Anton-Culver H, Ziogas A, Terry KL, Cramer DW, Hankinson SE, Tworoger SS, Calingaert B, Chanock S, Sherman M, Garcia-Closas M. Cancer Res. 2009; 69 (6): 2349-57
• Candidate gene analysis using imputed genotypes: cell cycle single-nucleotide polymorphisms and ovarian cancer risk. Goode EL, Fridley BL, Vierkant RA, Cunningham JM, Phelan CM, Anderson S, Rider DN, White KL, Pankratz VS, Song H, Hogdall E, Kjaer SK, Whittemore AS, DiCioccio R, Ramus SJ, Gayther SA, Schildkraut JM, Pharaoh PP, Sellers TA. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009; 18 (3): 935-44
• Performance of prediction models for BRCA mutation carriage in three racial/ethnic groups: findings from the Northern California Breast Cancer Family Registry. Kurian AW, Gong GD, John EM, Miron A, Felberg A, Phipps AI, West DW, Whittemore AS. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009; 18 (4): 1084-91