Molecular Epidemiology Resource
Dr. Cerhan's Lymphoma Epidemiology Lab created and maintains the Molecular Epidemiology Resource (MER), a prospective cohort study that supports a variety of epidemiologic and clinical projects. The MER is used by researchers throughout Mayo Clinic and around the world to identify clinical, epidemiologic, host genetic, biologic, tumor, and treatment factors that impact lymphoma outcomes and survivorship.
From Sept. 1, 2002, to June 30, 2015, nearly 7,000 people newly diagnosed with lymphoma at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, or at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, were enrolled in the MER cohort. The MER was funded by the University of Iowa and the Mayo Clinic Lymphoma SPORE.
In 2015, Dr. Cerhan and his research collaborators received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to expand the MER protocol to six more sites, creating the Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes (LEO) Study. This funding also supported ongoing follow up of the MER participants.
Mayo Clinic and external investigators can contact us to request data from either the Molecular Epidemiology Resource data collection or from the expanded LEO lymphoma study.
Data collection protocol
MER participants are contacted every six months for the first three years after diagnosis and then annually thereafter for information about outcomes and survivorship experiences. Disease progression or relapse, re-treatment, transformation and new cancers are validated against medical records.
At enrollment, participants completed a medical history questionnaire, provided a blood specimen for DNA, plasma and serum, and gave consent for researchers to access their medical records. Dr. Cerhan's lab collects participant-reported outcomes and survivorship data through regular follow-ups.
Related study files
Researchers can learn more about the MER study by reviewing these files for study news and questionnaires: