Tongzhang Zheng
Brown University, RI·Public Health & Epidemiology
Kidney cancer has been rising steadily in the United States for decades, and no one knows why. One suspect is PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a family of man-made fluorine-containing chemicals.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
perfluoroalkyl substances
PFHxS
kidney cancer
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Test whether pre-diagnosis blood levels of PFAS, especially PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS, predict later renal cell carcinoma, comparing about 650 cases with 1,300 matched controls from five US cohorts.
- Determine whether kidney cancer risk varies with PFAS mixture patterns and chemical structure, comparing branched with linear forms and short-chain with long-chain compounds, among the 40 PFAS measured in plasma.
- Assess whether hypertension, obesity, diabetes and smoking, which are established kidney cancer risk factors, strengthen or weaken the link between PFAS exposure and renal cell carcinoma.
- Explore whether PFAS-related risk differs by renal cell carcinoma tissue subtype or by race, and whether it may contribute to racial disparities in kidney cancer.
More about the research
They persist in the environment, build up in the body, and stay there for years. The kidney is a known target of these chemicals. Earlier studies of exposed workers and one smaller study of the general public hinted that PFAS raise kidney cancer risk. Large studies of ordinary, diverse populations are still needed to confirm or rule out that link.
Why it matters
PFAS are found widely in the environment and in people's blood. Clear evidence on whether they cause kidney cancer in the general population could help doctors and public health agencies understand the health effects of these chemicals. It could also give regulators a scientific basis for decisions about limiting exposure. The race-specific analyses may shed light on why kidney cancer risk differs across racial groups in the US.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Xuehong Zhang
Yale University, CT·Public Health & Epidemiology
Measure PFAS levels in pre-diagnosis plasma from six pooled cohorts and estimate how they relate to later liver cancer risk, overall and by race/ethnicity and hepatitis B/C status, in a nested case-control design.
Philip Lazarus
University at Buffalo, NY·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether levels or ratios of urinary NNAL enantiomers and their glucuronides predict lung cancer risk in Chinese smokers from three prospective cohorts in Shanghai and Singapore.
Michele Marcus
Emory University, GA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Determine whether cancer incidence and mortality are higher in the Michigan PBB Registry than in the general U.S. population, using standardized incidence and mortality ratios from linked death and state cancer registry data.
The school
Brown University: 23 labs on PI Pages, $375M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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