Scientist Profiles

• Genetic factors in breast and prostate cancer etiology
• Genetic and modifiable environmental factors that influence survival after breast cancer diagnosis
• Racial/ethnic differences in breast cancer risk and survival

Dr. Wang’s primary research interest focuses on genetic risk factors for breast cancer. She has used epidemiological data and DNA samples collected in the San Francisco Bay Area Breast Cancer Study (PI: Dr. Esther John, CPIC) to investigate genetic variation in the androgen receptor and its downstream genes. She is currently involved in a multi-center study that evaluates breast cancer risk in relation to common genetic variation in the hormone, inflammation and energy functioning pathways. She has also been recently funded to examine small sequence variations and large structural changes in the genomes of women with breast cancer.

A second area of her research involves modifiable environmental factors, genetic variation and gene-environment interaction that may influence the outcomes of cancer patients. She is presently leading a study that examines the roles of vitamin D, sun exposure and the VDR gene in the survival of breast cancer patients, using interview data and biospecimen collected in the San Francisco Bay Area Breast Cancer Study.

In collaboration with Dr. Esther John, Dr. Wang has also been studying racial/ethnic differences in postmenopausal circulating levels of estrogens and androgens, which play critical roles in breast cancer development. The aims of these studies are to assess hormone levels in non-Latina whites, Latinas and African-Americans, the three major groups in the San Francisco Bay Area Breast Cancer Study; to identify reproductive and lifestyle factors that may influence these hormone levels in this multiethnic population; and to investigate whether the racial/ethnic differences we observe in breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. can be accounted for by racial/ethnic differences in hormone levels.

Selected Research Projects:

John EM, Schwartz GG, Koo J, Wang W, Ingles SA. Sun Exposure, Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer Risk in a Multiethnic Population. Am J Epidemiol. 2007;166(12):1409-1419.

Wang W, John EM, Ingles SA. Androgen Receptor and Prostate-Specific Antigen Gene Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer in African-American Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005;14(12):2990-2994.

Lord SJ, Mack WJ, Van Den Berg D, Pike MC, Ingles SA, Haiman CA, Wang W, Parisky YR, Hodis HN, Ursin G. Polymorphisms in genes involved in estrogen and progesterone metabolism and mammographic density changes in women randomized to postmenopausal hormone therapy: results from a pilot study. Breast Cancer Research. 2005;7:R336-R344.

Wang W, Xue S, Ingles SA, Chen Q, Deip AT, Frankl HD, Stolz A, Haile RW. An association between genetic polymorphisms in the ileal sodium-dependent bile acid transporter gene and the risk of colorectal adenomas. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2001;10:931-936.

Ingles SA, Garcia DG, Wang W, Nieters A, Henderson B, Kolonel L, Haile RW, Coetzee GA. Vitamin D receptor genotype and breast cancer in Latinas. Cancer Causes Control. 2000;11:25-30.

Ingles SA, Coetzee GA, Ross RK, Henderson BE, Kolonel LN, Crocitto L, Wang W, Haile RW. Association of prostate cancer with vitamin D receptor haplotypes in African-Americans. Cancer Res. 1998;58:1620-1623.

All Publications (9)

Education: