The German Lung Cancer Study

The sample of the German Lung Cancer Study was composed of subsamples from three independent German studies. A total of 506 lung cancer patients (LUCY study: n=305, Heidelberg Lung Cancer Case-Control Study: n=201) were compared with 480 lung-cancer-free control subjects from the population (from the KORA study). Genetic variants relevant to lung cancer were sought across the entire genome.

The German Lung Cancer Study has long since been completed. However, it continues to be involved in numerous international collaborative projects (ILCCO, INTEGRAL). The PIs are Prof. HE Wichmann, Prof. Angela Risch, and Prof. Heike Bickeböller.

LUCY (Lung Cancer in the Young) Study

Lung cancer up to the age of 50. In the LUCY Study, data and materials were collected from lung cancer patients aged up to 50 years and their relatives on a multicentre basis until 2011. It was conducted jointly by the Institute of Epidemiology of Helmholtz Munich and the Department of Genetic Epidemiology, University Medical Centre Göttingen.

In the LUCY study, clinical and molecular biological information, medical history, family history of cancer, education and smoking, as well as blood samples were collected from 847 lung cancer patients diagnosed up to the age of 50, and 5,524 family members. DNA was obtained from blood samples and lymphoblastoid cell lines were cultured.

Heidelberg Lung Cancer Case-Control Study

Within the framework of a case-control study at the Thorax Clinic in Heidelberg the German Cancer Research Centre DKFZ examined and interviewed more than 2000 lung cancer patients. Among them were 300 lung cancer patients who developed the disease up to the age of 50 and about 750 comparable lung-cancer-free control subjects. Information on occupation and education, tobacco smoking, and in a subgroup also on family history of lung cancer, was collected via questionnaire. Blood samples were taken to obtain DNA for genetic testing.

The KORA Study (PI HE Wichmann)

Helmholtz Zentrum München (now Helmholtz Munich) led the KORA study (Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region), which examined the health of thousands of citizens from the Augsburg area to investigate the effects of environmental factors, behaviour, and genes. Four surveys in total were conducted during the period of 1984/85-1999/2001, with a total of 18,000 participants aged between 25 and 74 years. A variety of phenotypic, medical, and laboratory data were collected, and DNA was obtained from blood samples from 16,000 study participants. Epstein-Barr virus immortalised cell lines were also cultured from 1,600 blood samples.

KORA continues to be considered as a representative sample of the population in Germany recognised for genetic use.

Last updated 2023