1. |
- Almqvist, Catarina, et al.
(author)
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LifeGene - A large prospective population-based study of global relevance
- 2011
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In: European Journal of Epidemiology. - Stockholm : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0393-2990 .- 1573-7284. ; 26:1, s. 67-77
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Studying gene-environment interactions requires that the amount and quality of the lifestyle data is comparable to what is available for the corresponding genomic data. Sweden has several crucial prerequisites for comprehensive longitudinal biomedical research, such as the personal identity number, the universally available national health care system, continuously updated population and health registries and a scientifically motivated population. LifeGene builds on these strengths to bridge the gap between basic research and clinical applications with particular attention to populations, through a unique design in a research-friendly setting. LifeGene is designed both as a prospective cohort study and an infrastructure with repeated contacts of study participants approximately every 5 years. Index persons aged 18-45 years old will be recruited and invited to include their household members (partner and any children). A comprehensive questionnaire addressing cutting-edge research questions will be administered through the web with short follow-ups annually. Biosamples and physical measurements will also be collected at baseline, and re-administered every 5 years thereafter. Event-based sampling will be a key feature of LifeGene. The household-based design will give the opportunity to involve young couples prior to and during pregnancy, allowing for the first study of children born into cohort with complete pre-and perinatal data from both the mother and father. Questions and sampling schemes will be tailored to the participants' age and life events. The target of LifeGene is to enrol 500,000 Swedes and follow them longitudinally for at least 20 years.
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2. |
- Bill-Axelson, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Radical Prostatectomy or Watchful Waiting in Early Prostate Cancer
- 2014
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In: New England Journal of Medicine. - Waltham : Massachusetts Medical Society. - 0028-4793 .- 1533-4406. ; 370:10, s. 932-942
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundRadical prostatectomy reduces mortality among men with localized prostate cancer; however, important questions regarding long-term benefit remain. MethodsBetween 1989 and 1999, we randomly assigned 695 men with early prostate cancer to watchful waiting or radical prostatectomy and followed them through the end of 2012. The primary end points in the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Study Number 4 (SPCG-4) were death from any cause, death from prostate cancer, and the risk of metastases. Secondary end points included the initiation of androgen-deprivation therapy. ResultsDuring 23.2 years of follow-up, 200 of 347 men in the surgery group and 247 of the 348 men in the watchful-waiting group died. Of the deaths, 63 in the surgery group and 99 in the watchful-waiting group were due to prostate cancer; the relative risk was 0.56 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.41 to 0.77; P=0.001), and the absolute difference was 11.0 percentage points (95% CI, 4.5 to 17.5). The number needed to treat to prevent one death was 8. One man died after surgery in the radical-prostatectomy group. Androgen-deprivation therapy was used in fewer patients who underwent prostatectomy (a difference of 25.0 percentage points; 95% CI, 17.7 to 32.3). The benefit of surgery with respect to death from prostate cancer was largest in men younger than 65 years of age (relative risk, 0.45) and in those with intermediate-risk prostate cancer (relative risk, 0.38). However, radical prostatectomy was associated with a reduced risk of metastases among older men (relative risk, 0.68; P=0.04). ConclusionsExtended follow-up confirmed a substantial reduction in mortality after radical prostatectomy; the number needed to treat to prevent one death continued to decrease when the treatment was modified according to age at diagnosis and tumor risk. A large proportion of long-term survivors in the watchful-waiting group have not required any palliative treatment. (Funded by the Swedish Cancer Society and others.) The randomized Swedish trial of prostatectomy versus watchful waiting in disease detected mainly clinically (not by PSA screening) continues to show a benefit for early prostatectomy. The number of men younger than 65 needed to treat to prevent one death is now four. The Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Study Number 4 (SPCG-4), a randomized trial of radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting in men with localized prostate cancer diagnosed before the era of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, showed a survival benefit of radical prostatectomy as compared with observation at 15 years of follow-up.(1) By contrast, the Prostate Cancer Intervention versus Observation Trial (PIVOT), initiated in the early era of PSA testing, showed that radical prostatectomy did not significantly reduce prostate cancer-specific or overall mortality after 12 years.(2) PSA screening profoundly changes the clinical domain of study. Among other considerations, the substantial additional lead time ...
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3. |
- Bill-Axelson, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting in early prostate cancer.
- 2011
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In: The New England journal of medicine. - : Massachussetts Medical Society. - 1533-4406 .- 0028-4793. ; 364:18, s. 1708-17
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In 2008, we reported that radical prostatectomy, as compared with watchful waiting, reduces the rate of death from prostate cancer. After an additional 3 years of follow-up, we now report estimated 15-year results.
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4. |
- Bill-Axelson, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting in localized prostate cancer : the Scandinavian prostate cancer group-4 randomized trial
- 2008
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In: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. - : Oxford University Press. - 0027-8874 .- 1460-2105. ; 100:16, s. 1144-1154
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The benefit of radical prostatectomy in patients with early prostate cancer has been assessed in only one randomized trial. In 2005, we reported that radical prostatectomy improved prostate cancer survival compared with watchful waiting after a median of 8.2 years of follow-up. We now report results after 3 more years of follow-up.METHODS: From October 1, 1989, through February 28, 1999, 695 men with clinically localized prostate cancer were randomly assigned to radical prostatectomy (n = 347) or watchful waiting (n = 348). Follow-up was complete through December 31, 2006, with histopathologic review and blinded evaluation of causes of death. Relative risks (RRs) were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model. Statistical tests were two-sided.RESULTS: During a median of 10.8 years of follow-up (range = 3 weeks to 17.2 years), 137 men in the surgery group and 156 in the watchful waiting group died (P = .09). For 47 of the 347 men (13.5%) who were randomly assigned to surgery and 68 of the 348 men (19.5%) who were not, death was due to prostate cancer. The difference in cumulative incidence of death due to prostate cancer remained stable after about 10 years of follow-up. At 12 years, 12.5% of the surgery group and 17.9% of the watchful waiting group had died of prostate cancer (difference = 5.4%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.2 to 11.1%), for a relative risk of 0.65 (95% CI = 0.45 to 0.94; P = .03). The difference in cumulative incidence of distant metastases did not increase beyond 10 years of follow-up. At 12 years, 19.3% of men in the surgery group and 26% of men in the watchful waiting group had been diagnosed with distant metastases (difference = 6.7%, 95% CI = 0.2 to 13.2%), for a relative risk of 0.65 (95% CI = 0.47 to 0.88; P = .006). Among men who underwent radical prostatectomy, those with extracapsular tumor growth had 14 times the risk of prostate cancer death as those without it (RR = 14.2, 95% CI = 3.3 to 61.8; P < .001).CONCLUSION: Radical prostatectomy reduces prostate cancer mortality and risk of metastases with little or no further increase in benefit 10 or more years after surgery.
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5. |
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6. |
- Dahlström, Lisen Arnheim, et al.
(author)
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Prospective study of human papillomavirus and risk of cervical adenocarcinoma.
- 2010
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In: International journal of cancer. Journal international du cancer. - : Wiley. - 1097-0215 .- 0020-7136. ; 127:8, s. 1923-30
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are established as a major cause of cervical carcinoma. However, causality inference is dependent on prospective evidence showing that exposure predicts risk for future disease. Such evidence is available for squamous cell carcinoma, but not for cervical adenocarcinoma. We followed a population-based cohort of 994,120 women who participated in cytological screening in Sweden for a median of 6.7 years. Baseline smears from women who developed adenocarcinoma during follow-up (118 women with in situ disease and 164 with invasive disease) and their individually matched controls (1,434 smears) were analyzed for HPV using PCR. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) of future adenocarcinoma with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Being positive for HPV 16 in the first cytologically normal smear was associated with increased risks for both future adenocarcinoma in situ (OR: 11.0, 95% CI: 2.6-46.8) and invasive adenocarcinoma (OR: 16.0, 95% CI: 3.8-66.7), compared to being negative for HPV 16. Similarly, an HPV 18 positive smear was associated with increased risks for adenocarcinoma in situ (OR: 26.0, 95% CI: 3.5-192) and invasive adenocarcinoma (OR: 28.0, 95% CI: 3.8-206), compared to an HPV 18 negative smear. Being positive for HPV 16/18 in 2 subsequent smears was associated with an infinite risk of both in situ and invasive adenocarcinoma. In conclusion, infections with HPV 16 and 18 are detectable up to at least 14 years before diagnosis of cervical adenocarcinoma. Our data provide prospective evidence that the association of HPV 16/18 with cervical adenocarcinoma is strong and causal.
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8. |
- Dominicus, Annica, et al.
(author)
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Bias in variance components due to nonresponse in twin studies
- 2006
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In: Twin Research and Human Genetics. - 1832-4274 .- 1839-2628. ; 9:2, s. 185-193
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Incomplete data on trait values may bias estimates of genetic and environmental variance components obtained from twin analyses. If the nonresponse mechanism is 'ignorable' then methods such as full information maximum likelihood estimation will produce consistent variance component estimates. If, however, nonresponse is 'nonignorable', then the situation is more complicated. We demonstrate that a within-pair correlation of nonresponse, possibly different for monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, may well be compatible with 'ignorability'. By means of Monte Carlo simulation, we assess the potential bias in variance component estimates for different types of nonresponse mechanisms. The simulation results guide the interpretation of analyses of data on perceptual speed from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. The results suggest that the dramatic decrease in genetic influences on perceptual speed observed after 13 years of follow-up is not attributable solely to dropout from the study, and thus support the hypothesis that genetic influences on some cognitive abilities decrease with age in late life.
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9. |
- Dominicus, Annica, 1976-
(author)
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Latent variable models for longitudinal twin data
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Longitudinal twin data provide important information for exploring sources of variation in human traits. In statistical models for twin data, unobserved genetic and environmental factors influencing the trait are represented by latent variables. In this way, trait variation can be decomposed into genetic and environmental components. With repeated measurements on twins, latent variables can be used to describe individual trajectories, and the genetic and environmental variance components are assessed as functions of age. This thesis contributes to statistical methodology for analysing longitudinal twin data by (i) exploring the use of random change point models for modelling variance as a function of age, (ii) assessing how nonresponse in twin studies may affect estimates of genetic and environmental influences, and (iii) providing a method for hypothesis testing of genetic and environmental variance components. The random change point model, in contrast to linear and quadratic random effects models, is shown to be very flexible in capturing variability as a function of age. Approximate maximum likelihood inference through first-order linearization of the random change point model is contrasted with Bayesian inference based on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. In a set of simulations based on a twin model for informative nonresponse, it is demonstrated how the effect of nonresponse on estimates of genetic and environmental variance components depends on the underlying nonresponse mechanism. This thesis also reveals that the standard procedure for testing variance components is inadequate, since the null hypothesis places the variance components on the boundary of the parameter space. The asymptotic distribution of the likelihood ratio statistic for testing variance components in classical twin models is derived, resulting in a mixture of chi-square distributions. Statistical methodology is illustrated with applications to empirical data on cognitive function from a longitudinal twin study of aging.
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10. |
- Dominicus, Annica, et al.
(author)
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Likelihood ratio tests in behavioral genetics: Problems and solutions
- 2006
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In: Behavior Genetics. - : Springer. - 0001-8244 .- 1573-3297. ; 36:2, s. 331-340
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The likelihood ratio test of nested models for family data plays an important role in the assessment of genetic and environmental influences on the variation in traits. The test is routinely based on the assumption that the test statistic follows a chi-square distribution under the null, with the number of restricted parameters as degrees of freedom. However, tests of variance components constrained to be non-negative correspond to tests of parameters on the boundary of the parameter space. In this situation the standard test procedure provides too large p-values and the use of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) or the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) for model selection is problematic. Focusing on the classical ACE twin model for univariate traits, we adapt existing theory to show that the asymptotic distribution for the likelihood ratio statistic is a mixture of chi-square distributions, and we derive the mixing probabilities. We conclude that when testing the AE or the CE model against the ACE model, the p-values obtained from using the v2 (1 df) as the reference distribution should be halved. When the E model is tested against the ACE model, a mixture of v2(0 df), v2(1 df) and v2 (2 df) should be used as the reference distribution, and we provide a simple formula to compute the mixing probabilities. Similar results for tests of the AE, DE and E models against the ADE model are also derived. Failing to use the appropriate reference distribution can lead to invalid conclusions.
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12. |
- Holmberg, Lars, et al.
(author)
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A randomized trial comparing radical prostatectomy with watchful waiting in early prostate cancer
- 2002
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In: New England Journal of Medicine. - 0028-4793 .- 1533-4406. ; 347:11, s. 781-789
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Radical prostatectomy is widely used in the treatment of early prostate cancer. The possible survival benefit of this treatment, however, is unclear. We conducted a randomized trial to address this question. METHODS: From October 1989 through February 1999, 695 men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer in International Union against Cancer clinical stage T1b, T1c, or T2 were randomly assigned to watchful waiting or radical prostatectomy. We achieved complete follow-up through the year 2000 with blinded evaluation of causes of death. The primary end point was death due to prostate cancer, and the secondary end points were overall mortality, metastasis-free survival, and local progression. RESULTS: During a median of 6.2 years of follow-up, 62 men in the watchful-waiting group and 53 in the radical-prostatectomy group died (P=0.31). Death due to prostate cancer occurred in 31 of 348 of those assigned to watchful waiting (8.9 percent) and in 16 of 347 of those assigned to radical prostatectomy (4.6 percent) (relative hazard, 0.50; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.27 to 0.91; P=0.02). Death due to other causes occurred in 31 of 348 men in the watchful-waiting group (8.9 percent) and in 37 of 347 men in the radical-prostatectomy group (10.6 percent). The men assigned to surgery had a lower relative risk of distant metastases than the men assigned to watchful waiting (relative hazard, 0.63; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.41 to 0.96). CONCLUSIONS: In this randomized trial, radical prostatectomy significantly reduced disease-specific mortality, but there was no significant difference between surgery and watchful waiting in terms of overall survival.
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13. |
- Holmberg, Lars, et al.
(author)
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Prognostic markers under watchful waiting and radical prostatectomy
- 2006
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In: Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America. - : Elsevier. - 0889-8588 .- 1558-1977. ; 20:4, s. 845-855
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A suitable setting to analyze factors that determine prognosis or treatment response in prostate cancer is an unbiased comparison of radical prostatectomy and watchful waiting as in the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Trial number 4. In our previous presentation of 10-year results, we studied Gleason score, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) at diagnosis, and age at diagnosis as modifiers of the effect of radical prostatectomy on survival. Because overall prognostic information obtained by these parameters or by tumor stage was not provided in our publication, we now present these data in the two study arms separately.
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14. |
- Holmberg, Lars, et al.
(author)
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Results from the scandinavian prostate cancer group trial number 4 : a randomized controlled trial of radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting
- 2012
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In: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs. - Cary, USA : Oxford University Press. - 1052-6773 .- 1745-6614. ; 2012:45, s. 230-233
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Trial Number 4 (SPCG-4), 347 men were randomly assigned to radical prostatectomy and 348 to watchful waiting. In the most recent analysis (median follow-up time = 12.8 years), the cumulative mortality curves had been stable over the follow-up. At 15 years, the absolute risk reduction of dying from prostate cancer was 6.1% following randomization to radical prostatectomy, compared with watchful waiting. Hence, 17 need to be randomized to operation to avert one death. Data on self-reported symptoms, stress from symptoms, and quality of life were collected at 4 and 12.2 years of median follow-up. These questionnaire studies show an intricate pattern of symptoms evolving after surgery, hormonal treatments, signs of tumor progression, and also from natural aging. This article discusses some of the main findings of the SPCG-4 study. The Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Trial Number 4 (SPCG-4) started in 1989 when radical prostatectomy was newly introduced in Scandinavia and when there was essentially no prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in asymptomatic men; such testing only became common at the end of the inclusion of the trial a decade later. However, the trial data continue to be important for several reasons. In many parts of the world, the clinical panorama of prostate cancer still resembles that in Sweden in the early 1990s. The trial results point to many of the issues that modern diagnosis and treatment have to solve. SPCG-4 is to date the only trial to inform about both forces of mortality and self-reported symptoms and quality of life in men after radical prostatectomy or watchful waiting two decades and more out after a primary diagnosis of prostate cancer. According to the protocol (http://www.roc.se/prostata/SPCG-4.pdf), the main trial data have been updated every 3 years since 2002 (1–6). In this presentation, we highlight some of the main findings with bearing on the topic of this conference and discuss some issues that have been raised when the trial results have been presented.
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15. |
- Humphreys, Keith, et al.
(author)
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The Genetic Structure of the Swedish Population
- 2011
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 6:8, s. e22547-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Patterns of genetic diversity have previously been shown to mirror geography on a global scale and within continents and individual countries. Using genome-wide SNP data on 5174 Swedes with extensive geographical coverage, we analyzed the genetic structure of the Swedish population. We observed strong differences between the far northern counties and the remaining counties. The population of Dalarna county, in north middle Sweden, which borders southern Norway, also appears to differ markedly from other counties, possibly due to this county having more individuals with remote Finnish or Norwegian ancestry than other counties. An analysis of genetic differentiation (based on pairwise F(st)) indicated that the population of Sweden's southernmost counties are genetically closer to the HapMap CEU samples of Northern European ancestry than to the populations of Sweden's northernmost counties. In a comparison of extended homozygous segments, we detected a clear divide between southern and northern Sweden with small differences between the southern counties and considerably more segments in northern Sweden. Both the increased degree of homozygosity in the north and the large genetic differences between the south and the north may have arisen due to a small population in the north and the vast geographical distances between towns and villages in the north, in contrast to the more densely settled southern parts of Sweden. Our findings have implications for future genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with respect to the matching of cases and controls and the need for within-county matching. We have shown that genetic differences within a single country may be substantial, even when viewed on a European scale. Thus, population stratification needs to be accounted for, even within a country like Sweden, which is often perceived to be relatively homogenous and a favourable resource for genetic mapping, otherwise inferences based on genetic data may lead to false conclusions.
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18. |
- Kanerva, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Case-control estimation of the impact of oncolytic adenovirus on the survival of patients with refractory solid tumors.
- 2015
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In: Molecular Therapy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1525-0024 .- 1525-0016. ; 23:2, s. 321-329
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Oncolytic immunotherapy with cytokine armed replication competent viruses is an emerging approach in cancer treatment. In a recent randomized trial an increase in response rate was seen but the effect on overall survival is not known with any virus. To facilitate randomized trials, we performed a case-control study assessing the survival of 270 patients treated in an Advanced Therapy Access Program (ATAP), in comparison to matched concurrent controls from the same hospital. The overall survival of all virus treated patients was not increased over controls. However, when analysis was restricted to GMCSF-sensitive tumor types treated with GMSCF-coding viruses, a significant improvement in median survival was present (From 170 to 208 days, P = 0.0012, N=148). An even larger difference was seen when analysis was restricted to good performance score patients (193 versus 292 days, P = 0.034, N=90). The survival of ovarian cancer patients was especially promising as median survival nearly quadrupled (P = 0.0003, N=37). These preliminary data lend support to initiation of randomized clinical trials with GMCSF-coding oncolytic adenoviruses.Molecular Therapy (2014); doi:10.1038/mt.2014.218.
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21. |
- Leu, Monica, et al.
(author)
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NordicDB : a Nordic pool and portal for genome-wide control data
- 2010
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In: European Journal of Human Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1018-4813 .- 1476-5438. ; 18:12, s. 1322-1326
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A cost-efficient way to increase power in a genetic association study is to pool controls from different sources. The genotyping effort can then be directed to large case series. The Nordic Control database, NordicDB, has been set up as a unique resource in the Nordic area and the data are available for authorized users through the web portal (http://www.nordicdb.org). The current version of NordicDB pools together high-density genome-wide SNP information from similar to 5000 controls originating from Finnish, Swedish and Danish studies and shows country-specific allele frequencies for SNP markers. The genetic homogeneity of the samples was investigated using multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis and pairwise allele frequency differences between the studies. The plot of the first two MDS components showed excellent resemblance to the geographical placement of the samples, with a clear NW-SE gradient. We advise researchers to assess the impact of population structure when incorporating NordicDB controls in association studies. This harmonized Nordic database presents a unique genome-wide resource for future genetic association studies in the Nordic countries. European Journal of Human Genetics (2010) 18, 1322-1326; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2010.112; published online 28 July 2010
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22. |
- Njølstad, Pål Rasmus, et al.
(author)
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Roadmap for a precision-medicine initiative in the Nordic region
- 2019
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Nordic region, comprising primarily Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, has many of the necessary characteristics for being at the forefront of genome-based precision medicine. These include egalitarian and universal healthcare, expertly curated patient and population registries, biobanks, large population-based prospective cohorts linked to registries and biobanks, and a widely embraced sense of social responsibility that motivates public engagement in biomedical research. However, genome-based precision medicine can be achieved only through coordinated action involving all actors in the healthcare sector. Now is an opportune time to organize scientists in the Nordic region, together with other stakeholders including patient representatives, governments, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and funding agencies, to initiate a Nordic Precision Medicine Initiative. We present a roadmap for how this organization can be created. The Initiative should facilitate research, clinical trials and knowledge transfer to meet regional and global health challenges.
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23. |
- Ripatti, Samuli, et al.
(author)
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GENESTAT : an information portal for design and analysis of genetic association studies
- 2009
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In: European Journal of Human Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1018-4813 .- 1476-5438. ; 17:4, s. 533-536
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the rationale, the background and the structure for version 2.0 of the GENESTAT information portal (www.genestat.org) for statistical genetics. The fast methodological advances, coupled with a range of standalone software, makes it difficult for expert as well as non-expert users to orientate when designing and analysing their genetic studies. The ultimate ambition of GENESTAT is to guide on statistical methodology related to the broad spectrum of research in genetic epidemiology. GENESTAT 2.0 focuses on genetic association studies. Each entry provides a summary of a topic and gives links to key papers, websites and software. The flexibility of the internet is utilised for cross-referencing and for open editing. This paper gives an overview of GENESTAT and gives short introductions to the current main topics in GENESTAT, with additional entries on the website. Methods and software developers are invited to contribute to the portal, which is powered by a Wikipedia-type engine and allows easy additions and editing.
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27. |
- Sjolander, Arvid, et al.
(author)
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Sensitivity Analysis for Principal Stratum Direct Effects, with an Application to a Study of Physical Activity and Coronary Heart Disease
- 2009
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In: Biometrics. - : Wiley. - 0006-341X .- 1541-0420. ; 65:2, s. 514-520
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In many studies, the aim is to learn about the direct exposure effect, that is, the effect not mediated through an intermediate variable. For example, in circulation disease studies it may be of interest to assess whether a suitable level of physical activity can prevent disease, even if it fails to prevent obesity. It is well known that stratification on the intermediate may introduce a so-called posttreatment selection bias. To handle this problem, we use the framework of principal stratification (Frangakis and Rubin, 2002, Biometrics 58, 21-29) to define a causally relevant estimand-the principal stratum direct effect (PSDE). The PSDE is not identified in our setting. We propose a method of sensitivity analysis that yields a range of plausible values for the causal estimand. We compare our work to similar methods proposed in the literature for handling the related problem of ""truncation by death."".
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28. |
- Smedby, Karin Ekström, et al.
(author)
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Variation in DNA repair genes ERCC2, XRCC1, and XRCC3 and risk of follicular lymphoma
- 2006
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In: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. - 1055-9965 .- 1538-7755. ; 15:2, s. 258-265
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The reasons for the positive association between skin cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are not known but may be due to common susceptibility involving suboptimal DNA repair. Therefore, we investigated selected polymorphisms and haplotypes in three DNA repair genes, previously associated with skin cancer and DNA repair capacity, in risk of follicular lymphoma, including possible gene interaction with cigarette smoking and sun exposure. We genotyped 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the ERCC2, XRCC1, and XRCC3 genes in 430 follicular lymphoma patients and 605 controls within a population-based case-control study in Denmark and Sweden. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression and haplotype associations were assessed with a global score test. We observed no associations between variation in the ERCC2 and XRCC1 genes and follicular lymphoma risk. In XRCC3, increased risk of follicular lymphoma was suggested for rare homozygotes of three SNPs [Rs3212024: OR, 1.8 (95% CI, 1.1-2.8); Rs3212038: OR, 1.5 (95% CI, 1.0-2.4); Rs3212090: OR, 1.5 (95% CI, 1.0-2.5)]. These results were strengthened in current cigarette smokers. However, evidence of differences in XRCC3 haplotype distributions between follicular lymphoma cases and controls was weak, both overall and in current smokers. We conclude that polymorphic variation in the XRCC3 gene, but not in ERCC2 or XRCC1, may be of importance for susceptibility to follicular lymphoma, perhaps primarily in current smokers. The link between skin cancer and follicular lymphoma is unlikely to be mediated through common variation in the studied DNA repair gene polymorphisms.
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29. |
- Spjuth, Ola, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Data Integration between Swedish National Clinical Health Registries and Biobanks Using an Availability System
- 2014
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In: Data Integration in the Life Sciences. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 9783319085890 ; , s. 32-40
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Linking biobank data, such as molecular profiles, with clinical phenotypes is of great importance in epidemiological and predictive studies. A comprehensive overview of various data sources that can be combined in order to power up a study is a key factor in the design. Clinical data stored in health registries and biobank data in research projects are commonly provisioned in different database systems and governed by separate organizations, making the integration process challenging and hampering biomedical investigations. We here describe the integration of data on prostate cancer from a clinical health registry with data from a biobank, and its provisioning in the SAIL availability system. We demonstrate the implications of using the actual raw data, data transformed to availability data, and availability data which has been subjected to anonymization techniques to reduce the risk of re-identification. Our results show that an availability system such as SAIL with integrated clinical and biobank data can be a valuable tool for planning new studies and finding interesting subsets to investigate further. We also show that an availability system can deliver useful insights even when the data has been subjected to anonymization techniques.
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30. |
- Spjuth, Ola, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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E-Science technologies in a workflow for personalized medicine using cancer screening as a case study
- 2017
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In: JAMIA Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. - : Oxford University Press. - 1067-5027 .- 1527-974X. ; 24:5, s. 950-957
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: We provide an e-Science perspective on the workflow from risk factor discovery and classification of disease to evaluation of personalized intervention programs. As case studies, we use personalized prostate and breast cancer screenings.Materials and Methods: We describe an e-Science initiative in Sweden, e-Science for Cancer Prevention and Control (eCPC), which supports biomarker discovery and offers decision support for personalized intervention strategies. The generic eCPC contribution is a workflow with 4 nodes applied iteratively, and the concept of e-Science signifies systematic use of tools from the mathematical, statistical, data, and computer sciences.Results: The eCPC workflow is illustrated through 2 case studies. For prostate cancer, an in-house personalized screening tool, the Stockholm-3 model (S3M), is presented as an alternative to prostate-specific antigen testing alone. S3M is evaluated in a trial setting and plans for rollout in the population are discussed. For breast cancer, new biomarkers based on breast density and molecular profiles are developed and the US multicenter Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures (WISDOM) trial is referred to for evaluation. While current eCPC data management uses a traditional data warehouse model, we discuss eCPC-developed features of a coherent data integration platform.Discussion and Conclusion: E-Science tools are a key part of an evidence-based process for personalized medicine. This paper provides a structured workflow from data and models to evaluation of new personalized intervention strategies. The importance of multidisciplinary collaboration is emphasized. Importantly, the generic concepts of the suggested eCPC workflow are transferrable to other disease domains, although each disease will require tailored solutions.
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31. |
- Spjuth, Ola, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Harmonising and linking biomedical and clinical data across disparate data archives to enable integrative cross-biobank research
- 2016
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In: European Journal of Human Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1018-4813 .- 1476-5438. ; 24:4, s. 521-528
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A wealth of biospecimen samples are stored in modern globally distributed biobanks. Biomedical researchers worldwide need to be able to combine the available resources to improve the power of large-scale studies. A prerequisite for this effort is to be able to search and access phenotypic, clinical and other information about samples that are currently stored at biobanks in an integrated manner. However, privacy issues together with heterogeneous information systems and the lack of agreed-upon vocabularies have made specimen searching across multiple biobanks extremely challenging. We describe three case studies where we have linked samples and sample descriptions in order to facilitate global searching of available samples for research. The use cases include the ENGAGE (European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology) consortium comprising at least 39 cohorts, the SUMMIT (surrogate markers for micro- and macro-vascular hard endpoints for innovative diabetes tools) consortium and a pilot for data integration between a Swedish clinical health registry and a biobank. We used the Sample avAILability (SAIL) method for data linking: first, created harmonised variables and then annotated and made searchable information on the number of specimens available in individual biobanks for various phenotypic categories. By operating on this categorised availability data we sidestep many obstacles related to privacy that arise when handling real values and show that harmonised and annotated records about data availability across disparate biomedical archives provide a key methodological advance in pre-analysis exchange of information between biobanks, that is, during the project planning phase.
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32. |
- Sundström, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Prospective study of human papillomavirus (HPV) types, HPV persistence, and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.
- 2010
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In: Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology. - 1538-7755 .- 1055-9965. ; 19:10, s. 2469-78
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The link between squamous cell cervical carcinoma and human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 is well established, but the magnitude of the risk association is uncertain and the importance of other high-risk HPV (HRHPV) types is unclear.
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33. |
- Szulkin, Robert, et al.
(author)
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Prostate cancer risk variants are not associated with disease progression
- 2012
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In: The Prostate. - : Wiley. - 0270-4137 .- 1097-0045. ; 72:1, s. 30-39
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Currently used prognostic markers are limited in their ability to accurately predict disease progression among patients with localized prostate cancer. We examined 23 reported prostate cancer susceptibility variants for association with disease progression. METHODS: Disease progression was explored among 4,673 Swedish patients treated for clinically localized prostate cancer between 1997 and 2002. Prostate cancer progression was defined according to primary treatment as a composed event reflecting termination of deferred treatment, biochemical recurrence, local progression, or presence of distant metastasis. Association between single variants, and all variants combined, were performed in Cox regression analysis assuming both log-additive and co-dominant genetic models. RESULTS: Three of the 23 genetic variants explored were nominally associated with prostate cancer progression; rs9364554 (P = 0.041) on chromosome 6q25 and rs10896449 (P = 0.029) on chromosome 11q13 among patients treated with curative intent; and rs4054823 (P = 0.008) on chromosome 17p12 among patients on surveillance. However, none of these associations remained statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. The combined effect of all susceptibility variants was not associated with prostate cancer progression neither among patients receiving treatment with curative intent (P = 0.14) nor among patients on surveillance (P = 0.92). CONCLUSIONS: We observed no evidence for an association between any of 23 established prostate cancer genetic risk variants and disease progression. Accumulating evidence suggests separate genetic components for initiation and progression of prostate cancer. Future studies systematically searching for genetic risk variants associated with prostate cancer progression and prognosis are warranted. Prostate © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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34. |
- Vickers, Andrew, et al.
(author)
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Individualized Estimation of the Benefit of Radical Prostatectomy from the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Randomized Trial
- 2012
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In: European Urology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0302-2838 .- 1873-7560. ; 62:2, s. 204-209
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Although there is randomized evidence that radical prostatectomy improves survival, there are few data on how benefit varies by baseline risk. Objective: We aimed to create a statistical model to calculate the decrease in risk of death associated with surgery for an individual patient, using stage, grade, prostate-specific antigen, and age as predictors. Design, setting, and participants: A total of 695 men with T1 or T2 prostate cancer participated in the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group 4 trial (SPCG-4). Intervention: Patients in SPCG-4 were randomized to radical prostatectomy or conservative management. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Competing risk models were created separately for the radical prostatectomy and the watchful waiting group, with the difference between model predictions constituting the estimated benefit for an individual patient. Results and limitations: Individualized predictions of surgery benefit varied widely depending on age and tumor characteristics. At 65 yr of age, the absolute 10-yr risk reduction in prostate cancer mortality attributable to radical prostatectomy ranged from 4.5% to 17.2% for low-versus high-risk patients. Little expected benefit was associated with surgery much beyond age 70. Only about a quarter of men had an individualized benefit within even 50% of the mean. A limitation is that estimates from SPCG-4 have to be applied cautiously to contemporary patients. Conclusions: Our model suggests that it is hard to justify surgery in patients with Gleason 6, T1 disease or in those patients much above 70 yr of age. Conversely, surgery seems unequivocally of benefit for patients who have Gleason 8, or Gleason 7, stage T2. For patients with Gleason 6 T2 and Gleason 7 T1, treatment is more of a judgment call, depending on patient preference and other clinical findings, such as the number of positive biopsy cores and comorbidities.
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35. |
- Wienke, Andreas, et al.
(author)
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A bivariate survival model with compound Poisson frailty
- 2010
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In: Statistics in Medicine. - : Wiley. - 0277-6715 .- 1097-0258. ; 29:2, s. 275-283
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A correlated frailty model is suggested for analysis of bivariate time-to-event data. The model is an extension of the correlated power variance function (PVF) frailty model (correlated three-parameter frailty model) (J. Epidemiol. Biostat. 1999; 4:53-60). It is based on a bivariate extension of the compound Poisson frailty model in univariate survival analysis (Ann. Appl. Probab. 1992; 4:951-972). It allows for a non-susceptible fraction (of zero frailty) in the population, overcoming the common assumption in survival analysis that all individuals are susceptible to the event under study. The model contains the correlated gamma frailty model and the correlated inverse Gaussian frailty model as special cases. A maximum likelihood estimation procedure for the parameters is presented and its properties are studied in a small simulation study. This model is applied to breast cancer incidence data of Swedish twins. The proportion of women susceptible to breast cancer is estimated to be 15 per cent.
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