As a consequence, we expect that more patients will be treated with therapeutic doses of a promising new agent and fewer patients will be overdosed and suffer from the agent's toxic effects. The goal of genetic epidemiology in cancer research is to reach an understanding of the interactions between genetic and environmental components in cancer etiology. The intricate nature of these interactions, in addition to the complex structure of pedigree data, can only be studied with complex statistical methods. We are developing our methodology in the areas of segregation analysis, gene mapping, and risk prediction. Segregation analysis reveals the genetic mechanisms responsible for familial clustering of individuals with a specific cancer.
Gene mapping assigns genes to a particular location in a chromosome.
We are using these methodologies to improve the prediction of the risk that an individual will develop a particular cancer. Cytotoxic agents, as the name implies, can induce unacceptably toxic reactions at dose levels required for optimal anti-tumor activity. Identifying the dose that provides an optimal balance between the therapeutic and harmful aspects of a cytotoxic agent is the purpose of cancer phase I trials. More specifically, since the phase I trial represents the first application of a new agent or drug combination to humans, the emphasis is placed on controlling the toxicity rather than the efficacy of the new agent. EWOC is designed to approach the Target Dose as safely and as quickly as possible.