Race-associated Molecular Changes in Gynecologic Malignancies

Abstract

The difference in cancer morbidity and mortality between individuals of different racial groups is complex. Health disparities provide a framework to explore potential connections between poor outcomes and individuals of different racial backgrounds. This study identifies genomic changes in African American patients with gynecologic malignancies, a population with well-established disparities in outcomes. Our data explore whether social health disparities might mediate interactions between the environment and tumor epigenomes and genomes that can be identified. Using The Cancer Genetic Ancestry Atlas, which encodes data from The Cancer Genome Atlas by ancestry and allows for systematic analyses of sequencing data by racial group, we performed large-scale, comparative analyses to identify novel targets with alterations in methylation, transcript, and miRNA expression between tumors from women of European American or African American racial groups across all gynecologic malignancies. We identify novel discrete genomic changes in these complex malignancies and suggest a framework for identifying novel therapeutic targets for future investigation. Significance: Common genetic changes in breast, ovarian, cervix, and uterine tumors can be identified in African American patients. Understanding why these changes occur may help improve outcomes for all patients with cancer.