Molecular epidemiology of chronic diseases / editors, Chris Wild, Paolo Vineis, Seymour Garte.

Introduction: why molecular epidemiology? -- Study design -- Molecular epidemiological studies that can be nested within cohorts -- Family studies, haplotypes and gene association studies -- Individual susceptibility and gene-environment interaction -- Biomarker validation -- Exposure assessment -- Carcinogen metabolites as biomarkers -- Biomarkers of exposure: adducts -- Biomarkers of mutation and DNA repair capacity -- High-throughout techniques -- genotyping and genomics -- Proteomics and molecular epidemiology -- Exploring the contribution of metabolic profiling to epidemiological studies -- Univariate and multivariate data analysis -- Meta-analysis and pooled analysis -- genetic and environmental data -- Analysis of complex datasets -- Some implications of random exposure measurement errors in occupational and environmental epidemiology -- Bioninformatics -- Biomarkers, disease mechanisms and their role in regulatory decisions -- Biomarkers as endpoints in intervention studies -- Biological resource centres in molecular epidemiology: collecting, storing and analysing biospecimens -- Molecular epidemiology and ethics: biomarkers for disease susceptibility -- Biomarkers for dietary carcinogens: the example of heterocyclic amines in epidemiological studies -- Practical examples: hormones -- Aflatoxin, hepatitis B virus and liver cancer: a paradigm for molecular epidemiology -- Complex exposures -- Air pollution.

With the sequencing of the human genome and the mapping of millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms, epidemiology has moved into the molecular domain. Scientists can now use molecular markers to track disease-associated genes in populations, enabling them to study complex chronic diseases that might result from the weak interactions of many genes with the environment. Use of these laboratory generated biomarker data and an understanding of disease mechanisms are increasingly important in elucidating disease aetiology. Molecular Epidemiology of Disease crosses the disciplinary boundaries between laboratory scientists, epidemiologists, clinical researchers and biostatisticians and is accessible to all these relevant research communities in focusing on practical issues of application, rather than reviews of current areas of research. Covers categories of biomarkers of exposure, susceptibility and disease, includes chapters on novel technologies: genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabonomics, which are increasingly finding application in population studies, emphasizes new statistical and bioinformatics approaches necessitated by the large data sets generated using these new methodologies, demonstrates the potential applications of laboratory techniques in tackling epidemiological problems while considering their limitations, including the sources of uncertainty and inaccuracy, discusses issues such as reliability (compared to traditional epidemiological methods) and the timing of exposure, explores practical elements of conducting population studies, including biological repositories and ethics. Molecular Epidemiology of Disease provides an easy-to-use, clearly presented handbook that allows epidemiologists to understand the specifics of research involving biomarkers, and laboratory scientists to understand the main issues of epidemiological study design and analysis. It also provides a useful tool for courses on molecular epidemiology, using many examples from population studies to illustrate key concepts and principles.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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