The Association Between Selected Risk Factors for Pancreatic Cancer and the Expression of p53 and K-ras Codon 12 Mutations Jon P. Fryzek & David H. Garabrant & Maryjean Schenk & Margaret Kinnard & Joel K. Greenson & Fazlul H. Sarkar Published online: 30 November 2007 # Humana Press Inc. 2007 Abstract Background Pancreatic cancer is a major contributor to cancer mortality. Studies suggest that a few risk factors, including cigarette smoking, body mass index, having a relative with pancreatic cancer, and diabetes may be related to pancreatic cancer risk. Aim of the Study We conducted a case–control study in southeastern Michigan to examine the relation between the abovementioned risk factors and mutations of the K-ras oncogene and p53 tumor suppressor gene. Methods Two hundred forty-five patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer and 420 general population controls were enrolled in the study. For this analysis, all case subjects were restricted to the pancreatic cancer patients that had tissue blocks available for study (n =51). In-person interviews were conducted to ascertain informa- tion on demographic and lifestyle factors. Adjusted logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare various subject characteristics of pancreatic cancer patients with K-ras and p53 mutations and their subtypes to the character- istics of the general population controls. Results Smoking (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=2.0; 95% con- fidence interval [95%CI]=0.9–4.3) and diabetes diagnosed 5 or more years before interview (aOR=3.4; 95%CI=1.3–8.8) Int J Gastrointest Canc (2006) 37:139–145 DOI 10.1007/s12029-007-9005-8 J. P. Fryzek : D. H. Garabrant Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 109 Observatory Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA D. H. Garabrant e-mail: dhg@umich.edu D. H. Garabrant Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 109 Observatory Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA J. P. Fryzek (*) Department of Epidemiology, Amgen Inc., One Amgen Center Drive/MS:24-2-A, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA e-mail: jfryzek@amgen.com M. Schenk Karmanos Cancer Institute, Epidemiology Section, 110 E. Warren Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201, USA e-mail: mschenk@med.wayne.edu M. Schenk Department of Family Medicine, Wayne State University, UHC-4J, 4201 St. Antoine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA M. Kinnard Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Case Western University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA e-mail: margaret.kinnard@case.edu J. K. Greenson Department of Pathology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA e-mail: facjkgmd@umich.edu F. H. Sarkar Department of Pathology, Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University, 540 East Canfield Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201, USA e-mail: fsarkar@wayne.edu