A5048886725- Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection
- Colorectal Cancer Surgical Treatments
- Nutrition and Health in Aging
- Cancer survivorship and care
- Gastric Cancer Management and Outcomes
- Esophageal Cancer Research and Treatment
- Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism
- Colorectal and Anal Carcinomas
- Diet and metabolism studies
- Genetic factors in colorectal cancer
- Gut microbiota and health
- Multiple and Secondary Primary Cancers
- Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies
- Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
- Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging
- Colorectal Cancer Treatments and Studies
- Frailty in Older Adults
- Cancer, Stress, Anesthesia, and Immune Response
- Inflammatory Biomarkers in Disease Prognosis
- Cancer-related cognitive impairment studies
- Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research
- Enhanced Recovery After Surgery
- Folate and B Vitamins Research
- Physical Activity and Health
University Hospital Heidelberg
2017-2025
Heidelberg University
2016-2025
German Cancer Research Center
2013-2022
National Center for Tumor Diseases
2013-2022
Heidelberg (Poland)
2021
Deutschen Konsortium für Translationale Krebsforschung
2017-2018
Zimmer Biomet (Germany)
2008
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of death. Biomarkers to predict treatment outcomes are needed, as evidence whether postdiagnosis diet and lifestyle can affect well-being clinical outcomes. The international ColoCare Consortium aims identify new biologic markers (e.g., metabolomic, transcriptomic, metagenomic, genetic, epigenetic, proteomic markers) that outcomes, characterize associations between modifiable risk factors diet, supplement use, physical activity) with short-term long-term...
Colorectal cancer is known to arise from multiple tumorigenic pathways; however, the underlying mechanisms remain not completely understood. Metabolomics becoming an increasingly popular tool in assessing biological processes. Previous metabolomics research focusing on colorectal limited by sample size and did replicate findings independent study populations verify robustness of reported findings. Here, we performed a ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass...
Quality of life (QoL) is an important clinical outcome in cancer patients. We investigated associations between dietary patterns and QoL changes colorectal (CRC) The study included 192 CRC patients with available EORTC QLQ-C30 data before 12 months post-surgery food frequency questionnaire at post-surgery. Principal component analysis was used to identify patterns. Multivariate regression models assessed over time. identified four major patterns: "Western" pattern characterized by high...
Abstract Dysregulation of tryptophan metabolism has been linked to colorectal tumorigenesis; however, epidemiological studies investigating metabolites in relation cancer risk are limited. We studied associations plasma tryptophan, serotonin and kynurenine with colon two patients controls, one prospective cohort: ColoCare Study (110 patients/153 controls), the Colorectal Cancer Austria (CORSA; 46 patients/390 controls) European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition (EPIC; 456 matched...
Alterations within the tryptophan-kynurenine metabolic pathway have been linked to etiology of colorectal cancer (CRC), but relevance this for prognostic outcomes in CRC patients needs further elucidation. Therefore, we investigated associations between circulating concentrations metabolites and all-cause mortality among patients. This study utilizes data from 2102 stage I-III participating six prospective cohorts involved international FOCUS Consortium. Preoperative tryptophan, kynurenine,...
Physical activity plays an important role in colorectal cancer and accelerometry is more frequently used to measure physical activity. The aim of this study was evaluate feasibility measurement by patients under free-living conditions at 6, 12 24 months after surgery, the appropriate wear time compare results pedometry.Colorectal (stage 0/I-IV) from ColoCare were asked optionally accelerometer a pedometer for ten consecutive days post-surgery. Participants completed feedback questionnaire...
Smoking tobacco is a known risk factor for the development of colorectal cancer and mortality associated with disease. has been reported to be changes in DNA methylation blood lung tumour tissues, although there scant investigation how epigenetic factors may implicated increased developing cancer. To identify smoking behaviours, we performed epigenome-wide analysis tumours from 36 never-smokers, 47 former smokers, 13 active adjacent mucosa 49 64 18 smokers. Our analyses identified 15 CpG...
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer‐related death globally, with marked differences in prognosis by disease stage at diagnosis. We studied circulating metabolites relation to improve understanding metabolic pathways related colorectal progression. investigated plasma concentrations 130 among 744 Stages I–IV patients from ongoing cohort studies. Plasma samples, collected diagnosis, were analyzed liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry using Biocrates AbsoluteIDQ™ p180...
Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common side effects colorectal cancer treatment and affected by biomedical factors. We investigated association inflammation- angiogenesis-related biomarkers with cancer-related fatigue. Pre-surgery (baseline) serum samples were obtained from n = 236 newly diagnosed patients. Meso Scale Discovery assays performed to measure levels for inflammation angiogenesis (CRP, SAA, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, TNFα, VEGFA VEGFD). was assessed EORTC...
Adiposity has been linked to both risk and prognosis of colorectal cancer; however, the impact different fat areas [visceral (VFA) vs. subcutaneous area (SFA)] is unclear. We investigated associations between adiposity biomarkers inflammation angiogenesis among patients with cancer.Preoperative serum samples computed tomography scans were obtained from 188 diagnosed primary invasive stage I-IV cancer enrolled in ColoCare Study. was assessed by area-based quantification VFA, SFA, VFA:SFA...
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second overall leading cause of death in United States, with recurrence being a frequent mortality. Approaches to improve disease-free survival (DFS) are urgently needed. The gut microbiome, reflected fecal samples, likely mechanistically linked CRC progression and may serve as non-invasive biomarker. Accordingly, we leveraged baseline samples from N = 166 stage I-III patients ColoCare Study, prospective cohort newly diagnosed patients. We sequenced V3 V4...
Background: Obesity is a major risk factor for colon cancer (CC) with number of potential biologic mechanisms. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) has been identified as key contributor, partly due to its secretion adipokines and proinflammatory cytokines. VAT also associated worse cancer-related outcomes. In this study, we evaluated transcriptomic differences in patients high versus low amounts among people CC. Methods: Tumor-adjacent was collected 60 diagnosed stage I-III CC who underwent...
Abstract Physical activity has consistently been associated with improved colon cancer survival, yet the biological mechanisms for this association are not fully understood. We investigated transcriptome of tumors and tumor-adjacent visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in relation to patients’ physical levels. Methods: Fresh-frozen tumor VAT samples were collected from 134 stage I-III patients recruited at Huntsman Cancer Institute, Utah, Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany, profiled bulk RNA...
Abstract Introduction: Diet plays a crucial role in shaping the gut microbiome, which turn can influence cancer progression and patient outcomes. Specific dietary patterns - such as those rich fiber, protein, healthy fats promote balanced support immune function, reduce inflammation, improve treatment response. In contrast, diets high processed foods unhealthy may disrupt potentially leading to poorer Understanding impact of on microbiome could provide valuable insights into personalized...
Abstract Introduction: Gut microbiota-derived indole metabolites, produced from dietary tryptophan, play significant roles in modulating inflammation and intestinal immune responses. However, despite emerging interest, still little is known about the of indoles context colorectal cancer (CRC). Given microbiome’s potential impact on CRC progression, understanding associations between inflammatory markers may reveal novel therapeutic insights for management. Methods: Pre-surgery serum samples...
Abstract Introduction: DNA methylation (DNAm)-based predictors of individual proteins (e.g., C-reactive Protein, Interleukin-6) show better predictive performance for various health outcomes compared to direct measurements. This improved may be due the higher reliability and temporal stability DNAm profiles than protein Building on these findings, a library 109 DNAm-predicted plasma proteins, called “Protein EpiScores, ” was developed using paired proteomic blood data from thousands...
Introduction: Muscle mass and fat distribution are key components of body composition have been linked to treatment response, toxicity, survival in cancer patients. Few studies investigated parameters relation with rectal cancer, no study evaluating profiles early-onset (EORC; diagnosed <50 years) late-onset (LORC; ≥65 years). Methods: We utilized pre-treatment computed-tomography scans from 191 patients stage II/III recruited Utah Florida (two sites the ColoCare Study). Body were...
ABSTRACT Background Prior studies have documented that patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Objectives To examine coronary artery calcium (CAC) as a marker subclinical atherosclerosis and its association major adverse events (MACE) in CRC across the treatment trajectory. Methods Adults newly diagnosed were enrolled prospective ColoCare study from 2017 to 2024. CAC was measured routine diagnostic computed tomography (CT) positron...
Adipose tissue inflammation and dysregulated energy homeostasis are key mechanisms linking obesity cancer. Distinct adipose depots strongly differ in their metabolic profiles; however, comprehensive studies of depot-specific perturbations among patients with cancer lacking.We compared transcriptome profiles visceral (VAT) subcutaneous (SAT) from colorectal assessed the associations different anthropometric measures gene expression.Whole transcriptomes VAT SAT were measured 233 ColoCare...