Thread by @MetroUK

New research has revealed significant molecular differences between the breast cells of white and Black women.

It helps explain why Black women are much more likely to die of breast cancer. trib.al/RPN81hf

The findings, published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology, suggest that changing current diagnosis and treatment strategies could help address the disparity – and improve mortality rates for Black women.

Other studies have shown that while Black women are less likely to develop breast cancer than white women, they are far more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage and to die from the disease.
metro.co.uk/2021/04/27/bla…

Now, scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have found there are significant differences between white and Black women in the way DNA repair genes are expressed, both in healthy breast tissue and in cancerous tumors.

Put simply, researchers found that Black women’s cells repair DNA differently to white women’s cells – which means they will respond differently to certain cancer treatments.

The team looked at both healthy and tumour tissue from 185 Black women and compared these to samples from white women to determine this.

They found that eight genes powering DNA repair are expressed differently in Black women.

They also found consistent molecular differences in the signals controlling how fast cells can grow.

Notably, these differences were not confined to cancer cells – even healthy tissue showed a different gene expression pattern in Black versus white women.

The idea that your DNA can be being impacted by your race steers dangerously close to concepts of race science – which have historically been used to justify abhorrent and unequal treatment of Black people in medicine and beyond.

However, the scientists involved in this study are keen to reiterate that these findings don’t contradict the claim that race is a social construct.

Svasti Haricharan, assistant professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys, wants to make it very clear that this study was not about ancestral differences – or genetic distinctions that indicate any kind of innate, biological difference between racial categories.

She says the reason behind Black women having different DNA to white women could still be caused by social factors – such as socioeconomic inequality and racism.

She says the outside world inevitably has a deep impact on our bodies.

The good news among all this however is that the findings suggest a change in our approach to treating breast cancer in Black women could significantly improve outcomes.
metro.co.uk/2022/02/08/sci…

‘At the moment, we are treating Black women in the same way we treat white women, even though the molecular pathways are different.'

'Which means we are exposing them to worse outcomes, something that is completely preventable in my opinion.’