Publications

These publications are examples of research made possible with data from CanPath and its regional cohorts.

2024

Premature thymic functional senescence is a hallmark of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivorship

Authors: T. Kientega, S. Marcoux, J. Bourbonnais, J. Montpetit, M. Caru, G. B. Cardin, N. Arbour, V. Marcil, D. Curnier, C. Laverdière, D. Sinnett, F. Rodier

The researchers investigated thymic immunosenescence in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cALL) survivors. The healthy participant cohort consisted of participants from the CARTaGENE cohort and an institutional cohort from the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. The thymic immunosenescence biomarker, signal joint T-cell receptor excision circles (TREC), was evaluated and was highly correlated with age in healthy participants and cALL survivors. While TREC levels declined with age in both groups, cALL survivors exhibited a systematic immunoage acceleration ranging from 5.9 to 88.3 years. This immunoage gain was independent of age at diagnosis and treatment modalities but was more pronounced in females and those with metabolic syndrome. The decline in TREC was unrelated to blood cell counts, suggesting selective thymic aging.

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2024

Polygenic inheritance and its interplay with smoking history in predicting lung cancer diagnosis: a French-Canadian casecontrol cohort

Authors: Véronique Boumtje, Hasanga D. Manikpurage, Zhonglin Li, Nathalie Gaudreault, Victoria Saavedra Armero, Dominique K. Boudreau, Sébastien Renaut, Cyndi Henry, Christine Racine, Aida Eslami, Stéphanie Bougeard, Evelyne Vigneau, Mathieu Morissette, Benoit J. Arsenault, Catherine Labbé, Anne-Sophie Laliberté, Simon Martel, François Maltais, Christian Couture, Patrice Desmeules, Patrick Mathieu, Sébastien Thériault, Philippe Joubert, Yohan Bossé

The researchers equipped a case-control dataset, consisting of 4002 lung cancer cases from the LORD project and 20,010 ethnically matched controls from the CARTaGENE cohort. The researchers aimed to generate a genome-wide polygenic risk score for lung cancer to improve risk prediction and delineate individuals at high genetic risk of lung cancer for earlier detection and prevention.

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2024

The mediating role of health behaviors in the association between depression, anxiety and cancer incidence: An individual participant data meta-analysis

Authors: Kuan-Yu Pan, Lonneke van Tuijl , Maartje Basten, Judith J M Rijnhart, Alexander de Graeff, Joost Dekker , Mirjam I Geerlings, Adriaan Hoogendoorn, Adelita V Ranchor, Roel Vermeulen, Lützen Portengen, Adri C Voogd, Jessica Abell, Philip Awadalla, Aartjan T F Beekman, Ottar Bjerkeset, Andy Boyd, Yunsong Cui, Philipp Frank, Henrike Galenkamp, Bert Garssen, Sean Hellingman, Monika Hollander, Martijn Huisman, Anke Huss, Melanie R Keats, Almar A L Kok, Steinar Krokstad, Flora E van Leeuwen, Annemarie I Luik, Nolwenn Noisel, Yves Payette, Brenda W J H Penninx , Susan Picavet, Ina Rissanen, Annelieke M Roest, Judith G M Rosmalen, Rikje Ruiter, Robert A Schoevers, David Soave, Mandy Spaan, Andrew Steptoe, Karien Stronks, Erik R Sund, Ellen Sweeney, Alison Teyhan, Emma L Twait, Kimberly D van der Willik, Femke Lamers

Researchers investigated how various health behaviors might mediate the relationships between depression, anxiety, and the onset of different types of cancer. They conducted individual participant data meta-analyses using participants from 18 cohorts from the Psychosocial Factors and Cancer Incidence consortium.The cohorts analyzed included the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health, Ontario Health Study, and CARTaGENE. The findings suggested that smoking serves as a mediating factor that connects depression and anxiety with lung cancer and other cancers related to smoking.

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2024

Differences in antihypertensive medication prescription profiles between 2009 and 2021: a retrospective cohort study of CARTaGENE

Authors: Victoria Ivensky, Pitchou Zonga, Gabriel Dallaire, Louis-Charles Desbiens, Annie-Claire Nadeau-Fredette, Guy Rousseau, Rémi Goupil

Researchers examined the differences in antihypertensive medication prescription profiles in the province of Quebec between 2009 and 2021. Data from the CARTaGENE population–based cohort was used. The study found that application of hypertension guidelines for the choice of antihypertensive drugs remains suboptimal, underscoring the importance of educational initiatives.

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2024

A test to comprehensively capture the known genetic component of familial pulmonary fibrosis

Authors: Judith Villeneuve, Élody Tremblay, Nathalie Gaudreault, Victoria Saavedra Armero, Dominique K Boudreau, Zhonglin Li, Sébastien Renaut, Geneviève Dion, Yohan Bossé

The study aimed to develop a laboratory-developed test (LDT) based on standard Sanger sequencing to capture all known familial pulmonary fibrosis-associated variants. The new genetic test was evaluated in 62 sporadic cases of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. It was found that the MUC5B promoter variant rs35705950 was strongly enriched in these patients, with a minor allele frequency of 41.1%, compared with 10.6% in a matched population-based cohort from CARTaGENE.

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2024

Psychosocial factors, health behaviors and risk of cancer incidence: Testing interaction and effect modification in an individual participant data meta-analysis

Authors: Maartje Basten, Kuan-Yu Pan, Lonneke A vanTuijl, Alexander de Graeff, Joost Dekker, Adriaan W Hoogendoorn, Femke Lamers, Adelita V Ranchor, Roel Vermeulen, Lützen Portengen, Adri C Voogd, Jessica Abell, Philip Awadalla, Aartjan T.F. Beekman, Ottar Bjerkeset, Andy Boyd, Yunsong Cui, Philipp Frank, Henrike Galenkamp, Bert Garssen, Sean Hellingman, Martijn Huisman, Anke Huss, Melanie R. Keats, Almar A.L. Kok, Steinar Krokstad, Flora E. van Leeuwen, Annemarie I. Luik, NolwennNoisel, Yves Payette, Brenda W.J.H. Penninx, Ina Rissanen, Annelieke M. Roest, Judith G.M. Rosmalen, Rikje Ruiter, Robert A. Schoevers, David Soave, Mandy Spaan, Andrew Steptoe, Karien Stronks, Erik R. Sund, Ellen Sweeney, Emma L. Twait, Alison Teyhan, W.M. Monique Verschuren, Kimberly D. van der Willik, Mirjam I. Geerlings

Researchers determined whether psychosocial factors interact with or modify the effects of health behaviors, such as smoking and alcohol use, in relation to cancer incidence. Data were used from 22 cohorts, including the Ontario Health Study, Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health, and CARTaGENE. After exploring 744 combinations of psychosocial factors, the researchers found no evidence that psychosocial factors interacted with or modified health behaviors related to cancer incidence.

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2024

Ultra-processed foods consumption, depression, and the risk of diabetes complications in the CARTaGENE project: a prospective cohort study in Quebec, Canada

Authors: Akankasha Sen, Anne-Sophie Brazeau, Sonya Deschênes, Hugo Ramiro Melgar-Quiñonez, Norbert Schmitz 

Researchers examined the association between depression, ultra-processed food consumption (UPFs), and the risk of developing diabetes-specific complications in adults with type 2 diabetes. Data from participants enrolled in CARTaGENE were used. Over 7 years, 105 individuals developed diabetes-related complications. Participants with high depressive symptoms and high levels of UPF consumption had a higher risk of diabetes complications compared to those without depressive symptoms and low levels of UPFs in their diet. When high depressive symptoms and antidepressant use were combined with high UPF consumption, the risk of diabetes complications was higher.

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2023

Factors associated with change in moderate or severe symptoms of anxiety and depression in community-living adults and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Authors: Helen-Maria Vasiliadis, Jessica Spagnolo, Mary Bartram, Marie-Josée Fleury, Jean-Philippe Gouin, Sébastien Grenier, Pasquale Roberge, Grace Shen-Tu, Jennifer E Vena, Catherine Lamoureux-Lamarche , JianLi Wang

Researchers explored changes in moderate or severe symptoms of anxiety or depression (MSSANXDEP) from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, and examined associated sociodemographic, economic, psychosocial, health behavior and lifestyle, and clinical factors. Data from 59,997 participants from the five established cohorts of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath) were used. Analyses indicated that certain sociodemographic, economic, lifestyle, health behavior, psychosocial, and clinical factors were associated with remitted, incident, and persistent MSSANXDEP.

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2023

Plant-based dietary patterns and genetic susceptibility to obesity in the CARTaGENE cohort

Authors: Guiomar Masip, Atheer Attar, Daiva E Nielsen

Researchers explored whether adherence to three plant-based dietary indices (PDIs) mediated or moderated genetic susceptibility to obesity. The study included 7,037 adults from the CARTaGENE cohort. Obesity outcomes were found to be significantly associated with overall- and healthy-PDIs and polygenic risk scores (PRSs). Adherence to PDIs neither mediated nor moderated genetic susceptibility to obesity. Higher levels of meat consumption were positively associated with obesity, while increased levels of whole grain intake were negatively associated with obesity outcomes.

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2023

The influence of smoking and occupational risk factors on DNA methylation in the AHRR and F2RL3 genes

Authors: Laura Pelland-St-Pierre, Michael C Pham, Alice Quynh Huong Nguyen, Romain Pasquet, Sherryl A Taylor, Delphine Bosson-Rieutort, Anita Koushik, Vikki Ho

The researchers aimed to determine the association between smoking, occupational exposures, and AHRR and F2RL3 methylation, as AHRR and F2RL3 hypomethylation has been associated with lung cancer. A case-control study was implemented with CARTaGENE participants to outline the relationship between AHRR and F2RL3 methylation and lung cancer risk. It was found that in both the AHRR and F2RL3 genes, smoking was associated with lower levels of methylation. The data indicates that smoking and occupational exposures to some agents are associated with AHRR and F2RL3 hypomethylation.

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