NEW YORK, July 25 - Government officials on the island of Barbados announced yesterday that they will be cooperating with the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH to conduct a study of environmental and genetic predispositions for breast and prostate cancer among natives of Barbados, according the the Barbados Advocate.
The study, which will begin at the end of the 2003, will attempt in particular to provide answers for why Barbados natives suffer inordinately high rates of prostate cancer. DNA and serum samples from participants will be shipped to the NHGRI for genomic analysis.
The NIH awarded over $4 million last year to SUNY Stony Brook to study cancer in Barbados.