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Prof. Dr. Ben Schöttker

Group Leader

Group Head “Aging Research and Supportive Cancer Care”

Research focus

  • Risk & preventive factors of age-related diseases (Cancer, Diabetes, CVD, and Dementia)
  • Omics data (mainly proteomics)
  • Probiotics / Gut microbiome
  • Vitamin D 
  • Drug safety for older cancer patients
  • Cancer survivorship (Fatigue & Quality of Life)

Studies and projects

Studies

1) The ESTHER study (n=9,940)
A large population-based, German cohort study for investigating the risk and preventive factors for age-related diseases

Schöttker B, Xuan Y, Gào X, Anusruti A, Brenner H. Oxidatively damaged DNA/RNA and 8-isoprostane levels are associated with the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus at older age: Results from a large cohort study. Diabetes Care 2020;43(1):130-136.; DOI:  10.2337/dc19-1379  

2) The MIRANDA study (n=1,200)
A colorectal cancer patient cohort for investigating the risk and preventive factors of fatigue, quality of life and return to work 

Vlaski T, Slavic M, Caspari R, Fischer H, Brenner H, Schöttker B. Development Trajectories of Fatigue, Quality of Life, and the Ability to Work among Colorectal Cancer Patients in the First Year after Rehabilitation - First Results of the MIRANDA Study. Cancers (Basel). 2023;15(12); DOI: 10.3390/cancers15123168 

3) The VICTORIA study (n=350)
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test of efficacy of personalized vitamin D supplementation for reducing fatigue in CRC patients 

Schöttker B, Kuznia S, Laetsch DC, Czock D, Kopp-Schneider A, Caspari R, Brenner H. Protocol of the VICTORIA study: personalized vitamin D supplementation for reducing or preventing fatigue and enhancing quality of life of patients with colorectal tumor - randomized intervention trial. BMC Cancer. 2020;20(1):739; DOI: 10.1186/s12885-020-07219-z 

4) The OPTIMAL study (n=514) 
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the efficacy of a medication review for improving the quality of life of cancer patients with polypharmacy (5 or more drugs)

Schöttker B, Chen LJ, Caspari R, Brenner H. Protocol of the OPTIMAL study: Optimization of polypharmacy in geriatric oncology - A randomized controlled trial. BMC Cancer. 2023;23(1):357; DOI: 10.1186/s12885-023-10812-7.

5) The LEONORA study (n=206)
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the efficacy of an intervention with synbiotics for improving the gastrointestinal quality of colorectal cancer patients after surgery. The study started recruitment in 09/2025. 

Schöttker B, Kopp-Schneider A, Biehl L. Protocol of the LEONORA randomized clinical trial: Lower gastrointestinal symptom burden by prophylaxis with synbiotics after colorectal cancer surgery. BMC Cancer. 2026;26(1):455. DOI: 10.1186/s12885-026-15903-9.

Other studies with contributions/data analyses: 

6) UK Biobank (N=502,500) 
A large prospective cohort study from the United Kingdom to study health-related research questions. I have led five approved applications in the past. Currently the projects “Risk, Preventive, and Prognostic factors for Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Survival” and “Use of omics data to better understand the etiology of age-related diseases and to improve their risk prediction” are ongoing. 

Xie R, Herder C, Schöttker B. Large-scale multi-omics enhance risk prediction for type 2 diabetes. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2026;25(1):166. DOI: 10.1186/s12933-026-03223-y. 

7) NAKO (German National Cohort) (N=204,666)
A large prospective cohort study from Germany to study health-related research questions. I have led two approved projects in the past that are still ongoing.

Degen M, Haug U, …, Schöttker B. Factors associated with potentially inappropriate medication use, medication underuse and overuse in older adults in the German National Cohort. J Intern Med. 2026;299(6):754-775. DOI: 10.1111/joim.70097.

Work Package PI in consortia: 

LUCAS consortium (Lung cancer screening: minimizing harm and maximizing benefit), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR)

RISC-GAP consortium (Risk score-based screening of gastro-esophageal cancer and precursor lesions), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR)

 Other activities and memberships

German Society for Epidemiology: Working group member: “Pharmacoepidemiology”, “Epidemiology of Ageing“ and “Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases“

NAKO (German National Cohort): Pharmacoepidemiology Expert Group Member 

Current doctoral students and postdocs

  1. Dr. Marija Slavic
  2. Dr. Ruijie Xie
  3. Dr. Tomislav Vlaski
  4. Miriam Degen
  5. Lei Peng
  6. Guangjun Zheng
  7. Qiya Zhong
  8. Zhixin Cui

 Publications

→ Articles in PubMed

→ ORCID profile


10 selected publications

  1. Schöttker B, Jorde R, Peasey A, Thorand B, Jansen EH, …, Brenner H; Consortium on Health and Ageing: Network of Cohorts in Europe and the United States. Vitamin D and mortality: Meta-analysis of individual participant data from a large consortium of cohort studies from Europe and the United States. BMJ 2014; 348:g3656; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.g3656.
  2. Xie R, Vlaski T, Sha S, Brenner H, Schöttker B. Sex-specific proteomic signatures improve cardiovascular risk prediction for the general population without cardiovascular disease or diabetes. J Adv Res. 2026:79:599-606. DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2025.03.034 
  3. Xie R, Vlaski T, Trares K, Herder C, Holleczek B, Brenner H, Schöttker B. Large-Scale Proteomics Improve Risk Prediction for Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2025 2025;48(6):922-926. DOI: 10.2337/dc24-2478.
  4. Schöttker B, Xuan Y, Gào X, Anusruti A, Brenner H. Oxidatively damaged DNA/RNA and 8-isoprostane levels are associated with the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus at older age: Results from a large cohort study. Diabetes Care 2020;43(1):130-136; DOI: 10.2337/dc19-1379 
  5. Xuan Y, Gào X, Anusruti A, Holleczek B, Jansen EHJM, Muhlack DC, Schöttker B. Association of serum markers of oxidative stress with incident major cardiovascular events, cancer incidence and all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes patients: Pooled results from two cohort studies. Diabetes Care 2019;42(8):1436-1445; DOI: 10.2337/dc19-0292
  6. Schöttker B*, Herder C*, Rothenbacher D, Roden M, Kolb H, Müller H, Brenner H. Proinflammatory cytokines, adiponectin and increased risk of primary cardiovascular events in diabetes patients with or without renal dysfunction: results from the ESTHER study. Diabetes Care 2013; 36(6):1703-11; DOI: 10.2337/dc12-1416  * Shared first authorship
  7. Schöttker B, Herder C, Müller H, Brenner H, Rothenbacher D. Clinical utility of creatinine and cystatin C based definition of renal function for risk prediction of primary cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes. Diabetes Care 2012;35(4):879-86;DOI:10.2337/dc11-1998
  8. Degen M, Chen LJ, Schöttker B. Medication reviews in hospitalised patients for reduced hospital readmission and mortality. Systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of RCTs. Ageing Res Rev. 2025;104:102661. DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2025.102661 
  9. Kuznia S, Zhu A, Akutsu T, Buring JE, Camargo CA, Jr., Cook NR, …, Schöttker B. Efficacy of vitamin D(3) supplementation on cancer mortality: Systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Ageing Res Rev. 2023;87:101923; DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2023.101923
  10. Trares K, Chen LJ, Schöttker B. Association of F(2)-isoprostane levels with Alzheimer's disease in observational studies: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. 2022;74:101552;  DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101552 

 

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