Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

This research seeks to understand the effects of known environmental risk factors for colorectal cancer (CRC) such as alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, physical activity, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use on DNA hypomethylation. Global DNA hypomethylation is a modifiable epigenetic mechanism that is affected by environmental factors, modifiable, and proven to be associated with colorectal cancer. Studying exposures that lead to CRC can be difficult because of the long induction period from exposure to disease. However, by focusing on an intermediate factor such as DNA hypomethylation, the potential to detect significant associations increases. This study proposes two factors that may influence aberrant DNA methylation: risk factors leading to changes in DNA hypomethylation, and genetic variants that interact with proposed risk factors to differentially affect risk of global hypomethylation. This novel study will investigate methylation patterns in healthy-appearing colon mucosal tissues, and address associations between environmental risk factors of CRC and DNA methylation. While several studies linking DNA methylation and CRC exist, to our knowledge, no studies investigating methylation levels in normal-appearing colon tissue have been conducted. This study has the potential to elucidate on the mechanisms by which putative CRC risk factors lead to disease, and provide evidence for future CRC screening programs and interventions to reduce risk in patients.