The Japan Multi-institutional Collaborative Cohort Study (J-MICC Study) to Detect Gene-environment Interactions for Cancer

The Japan Multi-institutional Collaborative Cohort Study (J-MICC Study) launched in 2005, supported bya research grant for Scientific Research on Special Priority Areas of Cancer from the Japanese Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Although the main purpose is to confirm and detectgene-environment interactions of lifestyle-related diseases, mainly of cancer, through the cohort analyses, itincludes cross-sectional analyses on lifestyle factors, biomarkers, and genotypes, as well as confirmation/screening of new biomarkers usable for early diagnosis of cancer. The endpoints are cancer diagnosis and death.The participants diagnosed as cancer will be identified through population-based cancer registries, hospitalcancer registries, mail questionnaires, questionnaires at repeated visits, death certificates, health insurance data,and second survey questionnaires. Subjects are individuals aged 35 to 69 years enrolled from respondents tostudy announcements in specified areas, inhabitants attending health checkup examinations by localgovernments, visitors at health checkup centers, and patients at a cancer hospital. The number of subjects wasset to be 100,000 throughout Japan. The enrollment period is from April 2005 to March 2010. The second surveyis scheduled 5 years after their enrollment. The participants will be followed until 2025. The J-MICC CentralOffice is placed at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine. Ten participating research groups (CohortStudy Executing Groups) send baseline data and blood samples (buffy coat, serum, and plasma) anonymizedwith an identification number (J-MICC ID) to the Central Office. The data of second survey and follow-up willbe linked using J-MICC ID. This study is expected to produce many findings on lifestyle and genetic traitsassociated with lifestyle-related diseases including cancer among Japanese.