Peter Kraft
Adjunct Faculty

Peter Kraft

Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology

Epidemiology

pkraft@hsph.harvard.edu

Other Positions

Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Biostatistics

Biostatistics

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health


Overview

My research concentrates on the design and analysis of genetic association studies, with particular emphasis on studies linking variation in germline DNA to cancer risk. I have played a key role in multiple international consortia studying genetics and other exposures in relation to cancer risk over the last ten years: I have been a member of the statistical working group of the Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium since its inception, and currently chair the BPC3 steering committee; I played a leading role in the design and analysis of GWAS of breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers as part of the NCI's Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility and PanScan projects; and I chair the Analytic Working Group for the NCI's "post-GWAS" GAME-ON consortium, which aims to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying GWAS-identified cancer risk markers at five cancer sites (including breast and lung) and their public health implications.

I am also the contact PI for the epidemiology project of the breast cancer arm of GAME-ON, which focuses on gene-environment interactions and risk prediction. I have been the primary statistical geneticist for the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) for over ten years, and oversee the genotype databases for both studies, including genome-wide association data on over 20,000 subjects. I have collaborated on numerous analyses in the NHS and HPFS examining associations between genetic markers, behaviors (including diet and smoking), and risk of complex diseases. I have also collaborated with NHS investigators on the analyses of metabolite profiles in a case-control study of pancreatic cancer.

My current methodological research focuses on 1) efficient and interpretable "gene x environment interaction" analyses, 2) genetic risk prediction using common and rare genetic variation, biomarkers (including metabolites), and clinical and environmental risk factors, and 3) methods linking low-frequency variation, emerging functional annotation, and risk of complex disease.


Bibliography

Cancer Diagnoses After Recent Weight Loss.

Wang QL, Babic A, Rosenthal MH, Lee AA, Zhang Y, Zhang X, Song M, Rezende LFM, Lee DH, Biller L, Ng K, Giannakis M, Chan AT, Meyerhardt JA, Fuchs CS, Eliassen AH, Birmann BM, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci EL, Kraft P, Nowak JA, Yuan C, Wolpin BM.

JAMA. 2024 01 23. 331(4):318-328. PMID: 38261044

Multi-ancestry polygenic risk scores for venous thromboembolism.

Jee YH, Thibord F, Dominguez A, Sept C, Boulier K, Venkateswaran V, Ding Y, Cherlin T, Verma SS, Faro VL, Bartz TM, Boland A, Brody JA, Deleuze JF, Emmerich J, Germain M, Johnson AD, Kooperberg C, Morange PE, Pankratz N, Psaty BM, Reiner AP, Smadja DM, Sitlani CM, Suchon P, Tang W, Trégouët DA, Zöllner S, Pasaniuc B, Damrauer SM, Sanna S, Snieder H, Kabrhel C, Smith NL, Kraft P.

medRxiv. 2024 Jan 10. PMID: 38260294

Characterizing prostate cancer risk through multi-ancestry genome-wide discovery of 187 novel risk variants.

Wang A, Shen J, Rodriguez AA, Saunders EJ, Chen F, Janivara R, Darst BF, Sheng X, Xu Y, Chou AJ, Benlloch S, Dadaev T, Brook MN, Plym A, Sahimi A, Hoffman TJ, Takahashi A, Matsuda K, Momozawa Y, Fujita M, Laisk T, Figuerêdo J, Muir K, Ito S, Liu X, Uchio Y, Kubo M, Kamatani Y, Lophatananon A, Wan P, Andrews C, Lori A, Choudhury PP, Schleutker J, Tammela TLJ, Sipeky C, Auvinen A, Giles GG, Southey MC, MacInnis RJ, Cybulski C, Wokolorczyk D, Lubinski J, Rentsch CT, Cho K, Mcmahon BH, Neal DE, Donovan JL, Hamdy FC, Martin RM, Nordestgaard BG, Nielsen SF, Weischer M, Bojesen SE, Røder A, Stroomberg HV, Batra J, Chambers S, Horvath L, Clements JA, Tilly W, Risbridger GP, Gronberg H, Aly M, Szulkin R, Eklund M, Nordstrom T, Pashayan N, Dunning AM, Ghoussaini M, Travis RC, Key TJ, Riboli E, Park JY, Sellers TA, Lin HY, Albanes D, Weinstein S, Cook MB, Mucci LA, Giovannucci E, Lindstrom S, Kraft P, Hunter DJ, Penney KL, Turman C, Tangen CM, Goodman PJ, Thompson IM, Hamilton RJ, Fleshner NE, Finelli A, Parent MÉ, Stanford JL, Ostrander EA, Koutros S, Beane Freeman LE, Stampfer M, Wolk A, Håkansson N, Andriole GL, Hoover RN, Machiela MJ, Sørensen KD, Borre M, Blot WJ, Zheng W, Yeboah ED, Mensah JE, Lu YJ, Zhang HW, Feng N, Mao X, Wu Y, Zhao SC, Sun Z, Thibodeau SN, McDonnell SK, Schaid DJ, West CML, Barnett G, Maier C, Schnoeller T, Luedeke M, Kibel AS, Drake BF, Cussenot O, Cancel-Tassin G, Menegaux F, Truong T, Koudou YA, John EM, Grindedal EM, Maehle L, Khaw KT, Ingles SA, Stern MC, Vega A, Gómez-Caamaño A, Fachal L, Rosenstein BS, Kerns SL, Ostrer H, Teixeira MR, Paulo P, Brandão A, Watya S, Lubwama A, Bensen JT, Butler EN, Mohler JL, Taylor JA, Kogevinas M, Dierssen-Sotos T, Castaño-Vinyals G, Cannon-Albright L, Teerlink CC, Huff CD, Pilie P, Yu Y, Bohlender RJ, Gu J, Strom SS, Multigner L, Blanchet P, Brureau L, Kaneva R, Slavov C, Mitev V, Leach RJ, Brenner H, Chen X, Holleczek B, Schöttker B, Klein EA, Hsing AW, Kittles RA, Murphy AB, Logothetis CJ, Kim J, Neuhausen SL, Steele L, Ding YC, Isaacs WB, Nemesure B, Hennis AJM, Carpten J, Pandha H, Michael A, De Ruyck K, De Meerleer G, Ost P, Xu J, Razack A, Lim J, Teo SH, Newcomb LF, Lin DW, Fowke JH, Neslund-Dudas CM, Rybicki BA, Gamulin M, Lessel D, Kulis T, Usmani N, Abraham A, Singhal S, Parliament M, Claessens F, Joniau S, Van den Broeck T, Gago-Dominguez M, Castelao JE, Martinez ME, Larkin S, Townsend PA, Aukim-Hastie C, Bush WS, Aldrich MC, Crawford DC, Srivastava S, Cullen J, Petrovics G, Casey G, Wang Y, Tettey Y, Lachance J, Tang W, Biritwum RB, Adjei AA, Tay E, Truelove A, Niwa S, Yamoah K, Govindasami K, Chokkalingam AP, Keaton JM, Hellwege JN, Clark PE, Jalloh M, Gueye SM, Niang L, Ogunbiyi O, Shittu O, Amodu O, Adebiyi AO, Aisuodionoe-Shadrach OI, Ajibola HO, Jamda MA, Oluwole OP, Nwegbu M, Adusei B, Mante S, Darkwa-Abrahams A, Diop H, Gundell SM, Roobol MJ, Jenster G, van Schaik RHN, Hu JJ, Sanderson M, Kachuri L, Varma R, McKean-Cowdin R, Torres M, Preuss MH, Loos RJF, Zawistowski M, Zöllner S, Lu Z, Van Den Eeden SK, Easton DF, Ambs S, Edwards TL, Mägi R, Rebbeck TR, Fritsche L, Chanock SJ, Berndt SI, Wiklund F, Nakagawa H, Witte JS, Gaziano JM, Justice AC, Mancuso N, Terao C, Eeles RA, Kote-Jarai Z, Madduri RK, Conti DV, Haiman CA.

Nat Genet. 2023 Dec. 55(12):2065-2074. PMID: 37945903

Genetic Susceptibility to Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Risk for Pancreatic Cancer: Mendelian Randomization.

King SD, Veliginti S, Brouwers MCGJ, Ren Z, Zheng W, Setiawan VW, Wilkens LR, Shu XO, Arslan AA, Beane Freeman LE, Bracci PM, Canzian F, Du M, Gallinger SJ, Giles GG, Goodman PJ, Haiman CA, Kogevinas M, Kooperberg C, LeMarchand L, Neale RE, Visvanathan K, White E, Albanes D, Andreotti G, Babic A, Berndt SI, Brais LK, Brennan P, Buring JE, Rabe KG, Bamlet WR, Chanock SJ, Fuchs CS, Gaziano JM, Giovannucci EL, Hackert T, Hassan MM, Katzke V, Kurtz RC, Lee IM, Malats N, Murphy N, Oberg AL, Orlow I, Porta M, Real FX, Rothman N, Sesso HD, Silverman DT, Thompson IM, Wactawski-Wende J, Wang X, Wentzensen N, Yu H, Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A, Yu K, Wolpin BM, Duell EJ, Li D, Hung RJ, Perdomo S, McCullough ML, Freedman ND, Patel AV, Peters U, Riboli E, Sund M, Tjønneland A, Zhong J, Van Den Eeden SK, Kraft P, Risch HA, Amundadottir LT, Klein AP, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Antwi SO.

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 09 01. 32(9):1265-1269. PMID: 37351909

ENIGMA CHEK2gether Project: A Comprehensive Study Identifies Functionally Impaired CHEK2 Germline Missense Variants Associated with Increased Breast Cancer Risk.

Stolarova L, Kleiblova P, Zemankova P, Stastna B, Janatova M, Soukupova J, Achatz MI, Ambrosone C, Apostolou P, Arun BK, Auer P, Barnard M, Bertelsen B, Blok MJ, Boddicker N, Brunet J, Burnside ES, Calvello M, Campbell I, Chan SH, Chen F, Chiang JB, Coppa A, Cortesi L, Crujeiras-González A, De Leeneer K, De Putter R, DePersia A, Devereux L, Domchek S, Efremidis A, Engel C, Ernst C, Evans DGR, Feliubadaló L, Fostira F, Fuentes-Ríos O, Gómez-García EB, González S, Haiman C, Hansen TVO, Hauke J, Hodge J, Hu C, Huang H, Ishak NDB, Iwasaki Y, Konstantopoulou I, Kraft P, Lacey J, Lázaro C, Li N, Lim WK, Lindstrom S, Lori A, Martinez E, Martins A, Matsuda K, Matullo G, McInerny S, Michailidou K, Montagna M, Monteiro ANA, Mori L, Nathanson K, Neuhausen SL, Nevanlinna H, Olson JE, Palmer J, Pasini B, Patel A, Piane M, Poppe B, Radice P, Renieri A, Resta N, Richardson ME, Rosseel T, Ruddy KJ, Santamariña M, Dos Santos ES, Teras L, Toland AE, Trentham-Dietz A, Vachon CM, Volk AE, Weber-Lassalle N, Weitzel JN, Wiesmuller L, Winham S, Yadav S, Yannoukakos D, Yao S, Zampiga V, Zethoven M, Zhang ZW, Zima T, Spurdle AB, Vega A, Rossing M, Del Valle J, De Nicolo A, Hahnen E, Claes KBM, Ngeow J, Momozawa Y, James PA, Couch FJ, Macurek L, Kleibl Z.

Clin Cancer Res. 2023 08 15. 29(16):3037-3050. PMID: 37449874

A genome-wide gene-environment interaction study of breast cancer risk for women of European ancestry.

Middha P, Wang X, Behrens S, Bolla MK, Wang Q, Dennis J, Michailidou K, Ahearn TU, Andrulis IL, Anton-Culver H, Arndt V, Aronson KJ, Auer PL, Augustinsson A, Baert T, Freeman LEB, Becher H, Beckmann MW, Benitez J, Bojesen SE, Brauch H, Brenner H, Brooks-Wilson A, Campa D, Canzian F, Carracedo A, Castelao JE, Chanock SJ, Chenevix-Trench G, Cordina-Duverger E, Couch FJ, Cox A, Cross SS, Czene K, Dossus L, Dugué PA, Eliassen AH, Eriksson M, Evans DG, Fasching PA, Figueroa JD, Fletcher O, Flyger H, Gabrielson M, Gago-Dominguez M, Giles GG, González-Neira A, Grassmann F, Grundy A, Guénel P, Haiman CA, Håkansson N, Hall P, Hamann U, Hankinson SE, Harkness EF, Holleczek B, Hoppe R, Hopper JL, Houlston RS, Howell A, Hunter DJ, Ingvar C, Isaksson K, Jernström H, John EM, Jones ME, Kaaks R, Keeman R, Kitahara CM, Ko YD, Koutros S, Kurian AW, Lacey JV, Lambrechts D, Larson NL, Larsson S, Le Marchand L, Lejbkowicz F, Li S, Linet M, Lissowska J, Martinez ME, Maurer T, Mulligan AM, Mulot C, Murphy RA, Newman WG, Nielsen SF, Nordestgaard BG, Norman A, O'Brien KM, Olson JE, Patel AV, Prentice R, Rees-Punia E, Rennert G, Rhenius V, Ruddy KJ, Sandler DP, Scott CG, Shah M, Shu XO, Smeets A, Southey MC, Stone J, Tamimi RM, Taylor JA, Teras LR, Tomczyk K, Troester MA, Truong T, Vachon CM, Wang SS, Weinberg CR, Wildiers H, Willett W, Winham SJ, Wolk A, Yang XR, Zamora MP, Zheng W, Ziogas A, Dunning AM, Pharoah PDP, García-Closas M, Schmidt MK, Kraft P, Milne RL, Lindström S, Easton DF, Chang-Claude J.

Breast Cancer Res. 2023 08 09. 25(1):93. PMID: 37559094


News

Dozens of new genetic regions linked to breast cancer

Two studies represent the largest-ever examination of the inherited genetic contribution to the risk of getting breast cancer For immediate release: October 23, 2017 Boston, MA – Two large genome-wide association studies of thousands of women have identified…