Abstract 4599: Somatic mutation profile differences of “driver” mutations in 26 oncogenic lung cancer genes between African American and European American non-small cell lung cancer patients
Authors: Stephens Sarah H. , Fleming Patrice J. , Mitchell Braxton D. , Ambulos Nicholas , Bailey-Wilson Joan E. , Chang Christy , Feliciano Josephine L. , Sausville Edward A. , Edelman Martin J. 
Published: August 2015

African-Americans (AAs) are disproportionately affected by Lung Cancer (LC), having a higher incidence and a lower 5-year survival rate than any ethnic group ((European-Americans (EA) have 2nd highest incidence)). While tobacco use accounts for 90% of lung cancer cases, excess risk of LC in AAs is unlikely due to differences in cigarette smoking, since AAs and EAs smoke at comparable rates (∼20%) and even among smokers, AAs smoke fewer cigarettes. While social and environmental factors contribute to ethnic disparities in LC, it is likely that ethnic differences in genetic susceptibility play a role. A major barrier to this field of research has been historically low enrollment rates of AA LC patients for clinical studies. The University of Maryland is uniquely poised to address these research questions with a large database of ∼1000 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) (90% of LC cases) that includes a biobank of tissue samples with extensive clinical information. Not only is this database enriched for AA patients (40%), but it includes both tumor and non-tumor tissue allowing for examination of heritable (germline) and acquired (somatic) mutation. To address ethnic disparities, we are assessing somatic variability in the exons of 26 oncogenic lung cancer genes with the Ion Ampliseq™ Comprehensive Cancer Panel (CCP) and characterizing mutational profile differences in tumor samples between AA and EA NSCLC patients. We hypothesize that AA NSCLC patients will carry an excess of known recurrent driver mutations, and a differing mutational profile of somatic lung cancer driver mutations as compared to EA patients. Of the 10 patients (6 AA, 4 EA) sequenced to date, we detected oncogenic driver mutations in 18 of the 26 LC genes examined. Of the 6 AAs, all had multiple driver mutations and as a group, mutations were detected in 17 of the 26 LC genes. For the 4 EA patients, 3 were found to have 1 driver mutation each and in separate LC genes (AKT1, EGFR, STK11). Although results should be considered cautiously due to sample size, we observe that AA NSCLC patients have more driver mutations overall and per individual as compared to EA NSCLC patients.

Citation Format: Sarah H. Stephens, Patrice J. Fleming, Braxton D. Mitchell, Nicholas Ambulos, Joan E. Bailey-Wilson, Christy Chang, Josephine L. Feliciano, Edward A. Sausville, Martin J. Edelman. Somatic mutation profile differences of “driver” mutations in 26 oncogenic lung cancer genes between African American and European American non-small cell lung cancer patients. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4599. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4599