Major EU project investigates environmental factors behind cancer
Tampere University is participating in the MIREYA project, which investigates the role of environmental and socioeconomic factors in cancers affecting children, adolescents and young adults. Although childhood cancers are rare overall, colorectal cancers in young adults have become more common in recent years.
The MIREYA project will produce novel European research evidence on how environmental exposures, living environments and socioeconomic factors influence the risk and outcome of cancer.
Tampere University’s contribution to the consortium of multiple European partners is based on a Finnish register-based case-control study, and the project is carried out in collaboration with the Finnish Environment Institute.
“Finnish data provide high-quality information on children and young people diagnosed with cancer, along with matched controls selected for comparison. This creates exceptionally strong opportunities to examine the links between environmental factors and disease risk,” says Professor Anssi Auvinen, who leads the Finnish part of the study.
The project analyses the association between environmental exposures – such as air pollution, agricultural pesticides and residential environmental factors – and cancer risk. The analysis also takes into account the socioeconomic background of families and places where they live, which may influence both exposure and disease risk.
The MIREYA project focuses in particular on three groups of cancers: tumours of the central nervous system, embryonal tumours (originating from foetal cell types) and colorectal cancers.
These cancer types are studied with attention to environmental exposure from the prenatal period to adolescence and young adulthood.
“This study is exceptionally wide-ranging as we also analyse cancers in young adults. In addition to exposure, epidemiology researches protective factors. In the MIREYA project, we will investigate whether green environments act as such factors particularly in colorectal cancers,” Auvinen explains.
From research to prevention: environmental factors can be influenced
MIREYA brings together register-based case-control studies and comprehensively studies children, adolescents and young adults in 11 European countries. Thanks to a harmonised study design, it is possible not only to investigate rare cancers but also to compare the effects of environmental exposures between countries.
“The aim is to generate knowledge for cancer prevention and health policy. We will assess how much cancer risk could be reduced by influencing environmental and societal factors which can be tackled at the societal level,” Auvinen says.
According to Auvinen, the project strengthens Tampere University’s position as an internationally significant player in cancer epidemiology research. In this way, it supports the translation of research evidence into European decision-making and preventive actions.
The total budget of the study, which will begin in June 2026, is €7.1 million, of which Tampere University’s share is €400,000.
