«In addition to having a higher prevalence of triple - negative breast cancers than Caucasian women — something that has been documented in previous studies — we found that African American women with breast cancer had a significantly higher prevalence of the TP53 driver mutation,
basal tumor subtype and greater genomic diversity within tumors, all of which suggest more aggressive tumor biology,» says Tanya Keenan, MD, of the MGH Cancer Center, lead author of the study.
Not exact matches
Human breast cancers can be classified according to their histological and molecular features into different
subtypes, including luminal, ERBB2 and
basal - like
tumors.
Tumor recurrence was faster and more likely among African American patients, particularly for
basal subtype tumors or those driven by the TP53 mutation.
The number of mutations within each
tumor and the prevalence of the
basal - like and mesenchymal stem - like
subtypes — all of which suggest more aggressive
tumors — was also greater in the
tumors of African American patients.
The Cancer Genome Atlas study encompasses more than 500 primary
tumors representing the four intrinsic
subtypes of breast cancer: Luminal A, Luminal B, Her2 - enriched, and
Basal - like.
Among these and other results integrating multiple platforms, it's apparent that
Basal subtype tumors more closely resemble ovarian
tumors than other breast cancer
subtypes.