Zaridze D G
Arkh Patol. 1996 May-Jun;58(3):45-9.
The prime focus of cancer epidemiology is the study of causal relations between exogenous exposure and clinical cancer. Molecular epidemiology is a promising new tool in the study of environmental carcinogens. Techniques of molecular epidemiology can be applied in assessing: internal "biological effective" dose by measuring carcinogen-DNA adducts; variation in individual susceptibility to carcinogens; carcinogen-specific genetic lesions for identification of tumorigenic chemicals in complex mixtures; early biologic effect, particularly mutations and other damage in cellular genes (molecular precancer), likely to be predictive of cancer. By incorporating biologic markers into epidemiologic studies, one can detect potential hazards early and increase the statistical power of studies to determine causal relationship. Such markers can also improve extrapolation of risks from experimental animals to humans.
癌症流行病学的主要关注点是研究外源性暴露与临床癌症之间的因果关系。分子流行病学是研究环境致癌物的一种很有前景的新工具。分子流行病学技术可应用于评估：通过测量致癌物 - DNA加合物来确定内部“生物有效”剂量；个体对致癌物易感性的差异；用于识别复杂混合物中致瘤化学物质的致癌物特异性基因损伤；早期生物学效应，特别是细胞基因中的突变和其他损伤（分子癌前病变），可能对癌症具有预测性。通过将生物标志物纳入流行病学研究，人们可以早期检测潜在危害，并提高研究确定因果关系的统计效力。此类标志物还可改善从实验动物到人类的风险外推。
