Ethnic differences in the incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer are noted in the United States and worldwide. In the U.S., the most apparent differences are seen between African-American and white women. African-American women have lower incidence rates of the disease, but have higher mortality rates. Moreover, African-American women present at a younger age and with more aggressive disease.
Explanations for these racial/ethnic differences have included socioeconomic factors, nutrition, medical comorbidities, and healthcare behavior. However, analyses demonstrate that higher mortality risk remains independent of these factors. Recent studies also show that tumors in African-Americans have significant different molecular characteristics on histopathology, such as lacking estrogen receptors.
Beth A. Jones, Ph.D., M.P.H., from Yale University School of Medicine and her colleagues studied the breast tumors of 145 African-American and 177 white women to further characterize the pattern of alterations of genes known to relate to tumor development and be associated with worse prognosis.
The authors found that African-American women were four times more likely than white women to show significant alterations in a tumor suppressor gene, p53. However, the prevalence of alterations in oth
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Contact: David Greenberg
dgreenbe@wiley.com
201-748-6484
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
9-Aug-2004