Project description:Translational Relevance Historically, African Americans have been underrepresented in clinical cancer research. Diversity helps to ensure equal access to new cancer therapies and better treatment for everyone. Cancer research is increasingly focused on classifying patients according to molecular profiles for particular groups. We provide a detailed molecular analysis from paired NSCLC tissues that identified differential coding and noncoding RNA expression in NSCLC from African Americans (AA) and European Americans (EA). Similar to other tumor types, we determined that race-enriched gene and microRNA expression signatures suggest a more aggressive disease in African Americans. Based on predicted drug resistance to adjuvant chemotherapies, AA may not equally benefit from the same range of clinical drugs as EA. Our findings provide a rationale for integrating coding and noncoding transcriptome profiles, along with clinical, demographic, and genomic data, when determining treatment options. Abstract Purpose: To determine if racial differences in gene and microRNA expression translates to differences in lung tumor biology with clinical relevance in African Americans (AA) and European Americans (EA). Experimental Design: The NCI-Maryland Case Control Study includes seven Baltimore City hospitals and is overrepresented with AA patients (~40%). Patients that underwent curative NSCLC surgery between 1998 and 2014 were enrolled. Comparative molecular profiling used mRNA (n = 22 AAs and n = 19 EAs) and microRNA (n = 42 AAs and n = 55 EAs) expression arrays to track differences in paired fresh frozen normal tissues and lung tumor specimens from AA and EA. Pathway enrichment, predicted drug response, tumor microenvironment infiltration, cancer immunotherapy antigen profiling, and microRNA target enrichment were assessed. Results: AA-enriched differential gene expression was characterized by stem-cell and invasion pathways. Differential gene expression in lung tumors from EA were primarily characterized by cell proliferation pathways. Population-specific gene expression was partly driven by population-specific miRNA expression profiles. Drug susceptibility predictions revealed a strong inverse correlation between AA resistance and EA sensitivity to the same panel of drugs. Statistically significant differences in M1 and M2 macrophage infiltration was observed in AA (P <0.05), however, PD-L1, PD-L2 expression was similar between both. Conclusions: Comparative transcriptomic profiling revealed clear differences in lung tumor biology between AA and EA. Increased participation by AA in lung cancer clinical trials are needed to integrate, and leverage, transcriptomic differences with other clinical information to maximize therapeutic benefit in both AA and EA. GSEA, Connectivity Map, CIBERSORT, cancer immunotherapy antigen profiling, and hypergeometric testing for overlapping miRNA targets were performed.

Project description:Translational Relevance Historically, African Americans have been underrepresented in clinical cancer research. Diversity helps to ensure equal access to new cancer therapies and better treatment for everyone. Cancer research is increasingly focused on classifying patients according to molecular profiles for particular groups. We provide a detailed molecular analysis from paired NSCLC tissues that identified differential coding and noncoding RNA expression in NSCLC from African Americans (AA) and European Americans (EA). Similar to other tumor types, we determined that race-enriched gene and microRNA expression signatures suggest a more aggressive disease in African Americans. Based on predicted drug resistance to adjuvant chemotherapies, AA may not equally benefit from the same range of clinical drugs as EA. Our findings provide a rationale for integrating coding and noncoding transcriptome profiles, along with clinical, demographic, and genomic data, when determining treatment options. Abstract Purpose: To determine if racial differences in gene and microRNA expression translates to differences in lung tumor biology with clinical relevance in African Americans (AA) and European Americans (EA). Experimental Design: The NCI-Maryland Case Control Study includes seven Baltimore City hospitals and is overrepresented with AA patients (~40%). Patients that underwent curative NSCLC surgery between 1998 and 2014 were enrolled. Comparative molecular profiling used mRNA (n = 22 AAs and n = 19 EAs) and microRNA (n = 42 AAs and n = 55 EAs) expression arrays to track differences in paired fresh frozen normal tissues and lung tumor specimens from AA and EA. Pathway enrichment, predicted drug response, tumor microenvironment infiltration, cancer immunotherapy antigen profiling, and microRNA target enrichment were assessed. Results: AA-enriched differential gene expression was characterized by stem-cell and invasion pathways. Differential gene expression in lung tumors from EA were primarily characterized by cell proliferation pathways. Population-specific gene expression was partly driven by population-specific miRNA expression profiles. Drug susceptibility predictions revealed a strong inverse correlation between AA resistance and EA sensitivity to the same panel of drugs. Statistically significant differences in M1 and M2 macrophage infiltration was observed in AA (P <0.05), however, PD-L1, PD-L2 expression was similar between both. Conclusions: Comparative transcriptomic profiling revealed clear differences in lung tumor biology between AA and EA. Increased participation by AA in lung cancer clinical trials are needed to integrate, and leverage, transcriptomic differences with other clinical information to maximize therapeutic benefit in both AA and EA.

Project description:Background & aimsAfrican American and European American individuals have a similar prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), yet esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) disproportionately affects European American individuals. We investigated whether the esophageal squamous mucosa of African American individuals has features that protect against GERD-induced damage, compared with European American individuals.MethodsWe performed transcriptional profile analysis of esophageal squamous mucosa tissues from 20 African American and 20 European American individuals (24 with no disease and 16 with Barrett's esophagus and/or EAC). We confirmed our findings in a cohort of 56 patients and analyzed DNA samples from patients to identify associated variants. Observations were validated using matched genomic sequence and expression data from lymphoblasts from the 1000 Genomes Project. A panel of esophageal samples from African American and European American subjects was used to confirm allele-related differences in protein levels. The esophageal squamous-derived cell line Het-1A and a rat esophagogastroduodenal anastomosis model for reflux-generated esophageal damage were used to investigate the effects of the DNA-damaging agent cumene-hydroperoxide (cum-OOH) and a chemopreventive cranberry proanthocyanidin (C-PAC) extract, respectively, on levels of protein and messenger RNA (mRNA).ResultsWe found significantly higher levels of glutathione S-transferase theta 2 (GSTT2) mRNA in squamous mucosa from African American compared with European American individuals and associated these with variants within the GSTT2 locus in African American individuals. We confirmed that 2 previously identified genomic variants at the GSTT2 locus, a 37-kb deletion and a 17-bp promoter duplication, reduce expression of GSTT2 in tissues from European American individuals. The nonduplicated 17-bp promoter was more common in tissue samples from populations of African descendant. GSTT2 protected Het-1A esophageal squamous cells from cum-OOH-induced DNA damage. Addition of C-PAC increased GSTT2 expression in Het-1A cells incubated with cum-OOH and in rats with reflux-induced esophageal damage. C-PAC also reduced levels of DNA damage in reflux-exposed rat esophagi, as observed by reduced levels of phospho-H2A histone family member X.ConclusionsWe found GSTT2 to protect esophageal squamous cells against DNA damage from genotoxic stress and that GSTT2 expression can be induced by C-PAC. Increased levels of GSTT2 in esophageal tissues of African American individuals might protect them from GERD-induced damage and contribute to the low incidence of EAC in this population.

Dataset Information

High Education Level Protects European Americans but Not African Americans Against Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: National Health Interview Survey.

Publications

High Education Level Protects European Americans but Not African Americans Against Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: National Health Interview Survey.

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