Abraham Nomura, MD, DrPH
	Multiethnic Cohort Research Scientist, Epidemiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawai‘i MD, Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University; MPH (Epidemiology), DrPH (Epidemiology), and Preventive Medicine Residency at Johns Hopkins University abe@crch.hawaii.edu

Publication list via PubMed

My research has been directed towards the identification of lifestyle and environmental factors related to cancer risk. Particular interest has been focused on the role of infectious diseases, serum biomarkers, nutrition, and other factors in the etiology of site-specific cancers.

Many years ago, migrant studies in Hawai‘i helped to determine that environmental exposures greatly affected cancer risk. As a consequence, we became involved in conducting a long-term prospective study of cancer among Japanese-Americans. Over the years, we made the following observations by cancer site: stomach - low serum pepsinogen I levels were associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer (Ann Int Med 1980;93:537-40), infection with Helicobacter pylori bacteria was strongly associated with gastric cancer risk (N Engl J Med 1991;325:1132-36), colonization by Helicobacter pylori strains with the cagA gene was related to a greater risk of the intestinal histologic type of gastric cancer (J Infect Dis 2002;186:1138-44); colorectum - alcohol consumption was related to an increase in rectal cancer risk (N Engl J Med 1984;310:617-21), a high body mass index was positively associated with colon cancer risk (J Natl Cancer Inst 1985;74:319-22), increased physical activity was related to a decrease in risk for colon cancer (Am J Epidemiol 1989;130:522-29); liver - the presence of Hepatitis B surface antigen in the serum increased the risk of liver cancer (JAMA 1982;247:2247-49); lung - a low serum beta-carotene level was associated with an increased lung cancer risk (Cancer Research 1985;48:2369-72); prostate gland - arm muscle area was positively related to prostate cancer risk, suggesting that male hormones are important in its incidence (Br Med J 1988;297:713-15); T-cell leukemia/lymphoma - based on the results from the Japanese in Hawai‘i and Japan, infection in early life is an important factor in the transmission of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (Proc Natl Acad Sci 1986;83:4895-98), seropositivity to the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) was lower in the offspring than in the parents of Japanese in Hawai‘i who had a lower prevalence compared with their counterparts in Japan, indicating there is a decline in the transmission of this virus in the migrant population in Hawai‘i (Am J Epidemiol 1991;134:981-87); upper aerodigestive tract - alcohol intake and cigarette smoking increased the risk of cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract (Cancer Causes Control 1992;3:145-53), based on their serum levels, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and other carotenoids may be protective against upper aerodigestive tract cancer (Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention 1997;6:407-12).

More recently, we have been involved in a large multiethnic cohort study of cancer in Hawai‘i and Los Angeles. During the period from 1993 to 1996, baseline questionnaire data were collected on over 215,000 study participants. In addition, biological specimens have been collected from about 70,000 of these participants. They will be followed for a number of years to identify incident cases of specific types of cancer, including colorectal cancer. We will investigate the association of this cancer with body mass index, cigarette smoking history, alcohol intake, physical activity, diet, and other factors. In addition, we plan to study the relation of colorectal cancer to plasma vitamin B, vitamin D, urinary isothiocyanates (reflecting intake of cruciferous vegetables), and plasma insulin-like growth factors.

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Selected Publications

Nomura AMY, Wilkens LR, Murphy SP, Hankin JH, Henderson BE, Pike MC, Kolonel LN: Association of vegetables, fruit, and grain intake with colorectal cancer: The Multiethnic Cohort Study. AmJ Clin Nutr 2008; 88:730-737.

Epplein M, Nomura AMY, Hankin JH, Blaser MJ, Perez-Perez G, Stemmermann GN, Wilkens LR, Kolonel LN: Association of Helicobacter pylori infection and diet on the risk of gastric cancer: A case-control study in Hawaii. Cancer Causes Control 2008; 19:869-877.

Steffen AD, Kolonel LN, Nomura AMY, Nagamine FS, Monroe KR, Wilkens LR: The effect of multiple mailings on recruitment: The Multiethnic Cohort. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008; 17:447-454.

Setiawan VW, Stram DO, Nomura AMY, Kolonel LN, Henderson BE: Risk factors for renal cell cancer in the multiethnic cohort study. Am J Epidemiol 2007; 166:932-940.

Nomura AMY, Hankin JH, Henderson BE, Wilkens LR, Murphy SP, Pike MC, Le Marchand L, Stram DO, Monroe KR, Kolonel LN: Dietary fiber and colorectal cancer risk: The Multiethnic Cohort Study. Cancer Causes Control 2007; 18:753-764.

Ghose C, Perez-Perez GI, Torres VJ, Croasatti M, Nomura A, Peek Jr. RM, Cover TL, Francois F, Blaser MJ: Serological assays for identification of human gastric colonization by Helicobacter pylori strains expressing Vac A m1 or m 2 strains. Clinical Vaccine Immunol 2007; 14:442-450.

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