The study was small, including data from 69 women in the United States from the Cancer Genome Atlas and 210 women from the Gene Expression Omnibus. But we can't ignore the fact that the biology of a tumor may also be different and that the treatments that we're giving may not work the same for all patients even though they have all been diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer," said DiNome, a member of Duke Cancer Institute and medical director of breast cancer services for Wake County. "We've seen that socioeconomic factors and treatment factors do contribute to racial disparities in outcomes for patients with breast cancer. ![]() The findings could lead to development of more effective therapies for younger African American females with this disease. "This study shows us that we need to look a little closer at the molecular differences of breast cancers by race and ethnicity and not just assume that triple-negative breast cancer is necessarily the same cancer in all people." "Certain genes in triple-negative breast cancers of younger African American women are differentially methylated and are expressed differently than that of other women, and this appears to affect the aggressiveness of their tumor," DiNome said. The results were published October 5, 2023, in the journal JAMA Network Open.ĭNA methylation doesn’t alter the underlying DNA sequence, but it can effectively “turn a gene off,” said senior author Maggie DiNome, MD, FACS, professor in the Department of Surgery and chief of the breast surgery section. In an exploratory study that analyzed clinical, demographic, DNA methylation, and gene expression data from publicly available data repositories, investigators found that African American women under age 50 had a unique DNA methylation profile compared to older African American women and to white women of all ages. A new study from Duke University School of Medicine researchers suggests one possible reason why: these younger women may have a subtype that is molecularly distinct. "Triple-negative" breast cancer is the most aggressive subtype of the disease, and it disproportionately affects younger African American females, who show higher incidence and lower survival rates compared to other groups. Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities.Duke Research and Discovery Core Facilities & Service Centers.
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