Jeff Jones, then a Navy captain, flies at Top Knife, the Air Force's fighter doc school, during an assignment as the chief of aerospace medicine with the Air Force's 147th Medical Squadron. Jones is now the chief of urology at the VA Medical Center in Houston and leading a study into why so many military pilots get prostate cancer.

Jeff Jones, then a Navy captain, flies at Top Knife, the Air Force's fighter doc school, during an assignment as the chief of aerospace medicine with the Air Force's 147th Medical Squadron. Jones is now the chief of urology at the VA Medical Center in Houston and leading a study into why so many military pilots get prostate cancer. Courtesy / Jeff Jones

Military Pilots’ DNA May Hold Key to What’s Causing Their Prostate Cancers

Radars, magnetrons, and other toxic exposures may leave unique signatures on aviators’ cells, giving researchers the first evidence of cause.

While military pilots are getting the first acknowledgment that they are at higher risk of certain types of cancers, they still don’t know why, whether it’s something in the cockpits or on the flight decks—or something completely unrelated—that they were exposed to during their flying careers.

But one study is betting the answer may be found in their cells and DNA.  

Dr. Jeffrey Jones, a career flight surgeon, retired Navy captain, and current chief of urology at Houston’s VA medical center, is shaping a study to look at the one of the markers that various toxic exposures leave on the cells of military pilots who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. This marker, called DNA methylation, often precedes a mutation that leads to cancer, Jones said. 

“If we find these areas of methylation, often the cancer is very close by there,” Jones said. “In other words, there's been a field change associated with some exposure that produced methylation, and then later, the cell’s development of frank carcinoma. So there seems to be a progression from ‘normal,’ to a methylation event, that leads to a subsequent cancer.” 

The idea is that each different type of exposure, whether to solvents, fumes or the electromagnetic radiation emitted from radars and magnetrons, will produce a distinguishable methylation pattern, whether it’s found on a DNA strand or another of the microscopic components of a cell.  

“We don't think it's going to be exactly the same, but we think it's going to be a similar pattern so that hopefully we could recognize it,” Jones said. 

Looking at methylation patterns has also been used to show links between cigarette smoking and cancer. 

Jones said his researchers would also be looking for other signatures that toxic exposure can leave on DNA or elsewhere in a cell. He said these might include specific types of chromosomal aberrations; copy number alterations, which occur when the numbers of copies of a specific gene that get replicated change; and other mutations of either the nuclear or mitochondrial DNA. 

Mike Crosby, a retired Navy commander who served as an F-14 radar intercept officer and now leads the non-profit group Veterans Prostate Cancer Awareness, has also been pressing industry to study the levels and types of radiation that each piece of equipment emitted. 

Pilots spent hundreds, and sometimes thousands of hours sitting just behind powerful avionics equipment that was placed in the Tomcat’s nose cone. He questions whether there was adequate shielding in those older jets. 

“It’s long overdue that the services conduct an in-cockpit test to measure the radiation effects they are being exposed to,” Crosby said. 

It’s hardly just a problem for military aviators. For years, service members who have suspected their cancers or other illnesses were caused by toxic exposure—for example breathing in particulate matter from massive burn pits or getting exposed to radiation or chemical weapons hazards—have struggled to get the Department of Veterans Affairs to recognize their claims. 

That has begun to change. A flurry of legislation and momentum generated by private veterans organizations and within the VA has begun to take the onus off the veteran to prove a link. 

“It’s very hard to determine if a specific exposure causes a particular effect in retrospect,” Jones said. “That’s why we need to look for patterns of change that are similar in these individuals, which can define a molecular signature, and begin to make an attribution of different types of exposure.” 

The study will be limited to prostate cancers to further reduce variables. Prostate cancer manifests in a similar way in about 85 percent of men, Jones said. 

But it’s also personal for Jones; as a Navy flight surgeon assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps, he flew hundreds of hours on a variety of aircraft, including the EA-6B Prowler, the F-18 Hornet, AH-1s, C-40s, and C-130s. 

In 2019, at 59, he was also diagnosed with prostate cancer. 

An Air Force study released earlier this year found that pilots were 23 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than non-flying service members and 19 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than the U.S. general population. 

Jones said about 1,000 military aviation veterans have signed up to be part of the study, which is being supported by Veterans Prostate Cancer Awareness. The study would examine the service histories of those veterans—where they served, what they flew, what ordnance and equipment was on board, and other health factors to begin to isolate causes. 

The study has not yet begun, Jones and others are still working to secure funding for it and hosting a fundraiser with Veterans Prostate Cancer Awareness aboard the retired aircraft carrier USS Midway in San Diego this month.  

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.