Abstract A085: Common and unique breast and prostate cancer metabolic profiles in African Americans
Authors: Stewart Delisha A. , Pathmasiri Wimal W. , McRitchie Susan L. , Buckley Lance , Naab Tammey J. , DeWitty Robert L. , Fripp Vikisha T. , Beyene Desta A. , Kassim Olakunle O. , Kanaan Yasmine M. , Sumner Susan J. , Copeland Robert L. 
Published: September 2020

Breast cancer (BCa) and prostate cancer (PCa) are two of the most commonly occurring invasive cancers in African American women and men, respectively. Although they arise in anatomically different organs with distinct physiological function, a unique feature of both cancers can be hormone-dependence and thus, remarkable underlying biological similarity has been observed between the two malignancies. For example, increased risk of male BCa after PCa incidence was reported previously, in a large population-based study. The purpose of this study was identification of biomarkers to improve early diagnosis in African Americans, leveraging metabolic commonalities and differences between these two cancers. Using untargeted 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics we identified several common and unique metabolites and biological pathways in plasma samples from BCa and PCa patients compared to plasma samples from women and men with no diagnosis or family history of either type of cancer (controls). Samples were provided from the Tissue, Plasma and Clinical Bank at the Howard University Cancer Center (HUCC). Multivariate analysis demonstrated greater differentiation in the metabolic profiles between control plasma samples for both men and women, with an increase in the level of some amino acids (e.g. alanine, N-acetyl-tyrosine, asparagine, glutamine, histidine, tryptophan and tyrosine), but no differences between short chain fatty acids (2-hydroxyisovalerate, β-hydroxybutyrate). The analysis between BCa and PCa plasma profiles showed similar results. Comparison between control women versus BCa patients demonstrated decreases in all library-matched, significant metabolites except for increases in β-hydroxybutyrate and formate in patients. Analysis of control men and PCa patients showed increased levels of most amino acids but decreases in short chain fatty acids. Interestingly, pathway evaluation showed decreased glucose utilization in comparisons between both sets of control samples and cancer samples, individually, but no difference between controls versus cancer samples. Metabolically-relevant markers can serve as a viable means for earlier cancer detection, to have a major impact on cancer outcomes for African Americans, who suffer disparate burdens from these cancers, in-part because of delayed diagnoses and poor treatment efficacy associated with later-stage disease.

Citation Format: Delisha A. Stewart, Wimal W. Pathmasiri, Susan L. McRitchie, Lance Buckley, Tammey J. Naab, Robert L. DeWitty, Jr, Vikisha T. Fripp, Desta A. Beyene, Olakunle O. Kassim, Yasmine M. Kanaan, Susan J. Sumner, Robert L. Copeland, Jr. Common and unique breast and prostate cancer metabolic profiles in African Americans [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr A085.