Black women missing from breast tumor data. Here's why...

New research showing genetic differences in breast cells suggests standard treatments for breast cancer are less effective for Black women, who disproportionately suffer and die from the disease.

The new study from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute also highlights the need to include more Black people in trials, experts say. More inclusive data is essential to help fill knowledge gaps and improve treatment plans.

“We really need to take that on board and say, ‘Are we doing the best job we can in implementing precision medicine for everyone? Or have we been using a one-size-fits-all approach for a little too long?’” said lead author and cancer researcher Svasti Haricharan.

Black women have the highest breast cancer death rates of any racial group, with a rate 40% higher than white women and more than double Asian and Pacific Islander women, who have the lowest death rates, according to the American Cancer Society. Often diagnosed at younger ages than white women, Black women under 50 die at double the rate of white women. More than a fifth of breast cancers in Black women are triple negative, the most aggressive form.

For the study, researchers looked at cells of women with the most common breast cancer subtype, estrogen receptor positive (ER+), which is a less aggressive, more treatable cancer.

The researchers found genes that repair DNA damage signal differently in Black women's breast cells compared with white women's cells. Eight specific genes behind DNA repair were expressed differently in Black women, as well as other markers that influence how fast cells grow.

These differences were associated with lower survival rates, and could make ER+ cancer in Black women less responsive to the standard treatment plans that work well in white women – on whom the treatments were mostly tested, according to the authors of the study published last week in Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology. The findings suggest Black women with this type of breast cancer could benefit from earlier treatment with CDK inhibitors, a type of drug that helps stop cancer cells from multiplying.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/02/19/breast-cancer-kills-more-black-women-new-study-may-help-show-why/6694057001/