The IGF Pathway &amp; Breast Cancer Risk in African Americans
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Approximately 1 in 8 women in the US develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. Although the overall incidence of breast cancer in African Americans is slightly lower than in Caucasians and is the same for women under age 50 years, the age-adjusted mortality rates for women under 50 years is almost double. African American women present with more aggressive breast cancer at diagnosis. Therefore, it is imperative that we identify risk factors for breast cancer in this population. Breast cancer results from complex interactions among genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors. Thus, knowledge of genetic risk factors that contribute to breast cancer risk is crucial to design both preventative and therapeutic strategies and to identify at risk individuals, in order to reduce the incidence of and death from this disease. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Clinically important genetic risk factors that may result in differences in risk for developing breast cancer may involve genes involved in cell growth and multiplication, factors central to cancer development. This proposal will test the hypothesis that common changes in genes in the insulin-like growth factor pathway may be risk factors for breast cancer. We will study these genes in a set of African American women with breast cancer, as these women have been under-studied and often seem to present with a more aggressive breast cancer at a younger age with a higher associated mortality. Therefore, this group of women could especially benefit from identification of risk factors for breast cancer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 We propose to identify genes that are important in breast cancer occurrence and progression through comparing specific genetic changes in DNA from African American women with breast cancer (cases) to African American women of the same age without breast cancer (controls). We will study 600 women with breast cancer and 232 women without. Statistical methods will be used to analyze the data looking at the main effects of the genetic changes as well as their interactions with other genetic changes and with lifestyle factors such as body mass index. We will look at their associations with breast cancer risk, age at which it was diagnosed, and tumor factors such as stage, size of tumor, and involvement of lymph nodes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 To our knowledge, this will be the first comprehensive study to investigate the role of changes in a series of genes involved in the insulin-like growth factor pathway, which may directly affect cell growth. We are examining multiple variants; many in genes that have never previously been examined in this context. Moreover, in previous studies, only one or two variants per gene and only one or two genes in a pathway were examined. We will be using sophisticated new approaches that analyze multiple linked variants in a single gene and that allow evaluation of multiple genes in a single mechanistic pathway. Importantly, we are focusing on African Americans, who are at high risk of aggressive, early onset breast cancer. Few previous studies have been undertaken in this population.