Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Epublish 2 citations
PubMed: 39300140 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52554-5
An elevated rate of whole-genome duplications in cancers from Black patients.
Nat Commun 15(1):8218
Authors: Leanne M Brown, Ryan A Hagenson, Tilen Koklič, Iztok Urbančič, Lu Qiao, Janez Strancar, Jason M Sheltzer
Affiliations
- Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
- Laboratory of Biophysics, Condensed Matter Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova Cesta 39, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
- Infinite d.o.o, Zagrebška cesta 20, Maribor, Slovenia.
- Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Abstract
In the United States, Black individuals have higher rates of cancer mortality than any other racial group. Here, we examine chromosome copy number changes in cancers from more than 1800 self-reported Black patients. We find that tumors from self-reported Black patients are significantly more likely to exhibit whole-genome duplications (WGDs), a genomic event that enhances metastasis and aggressive disease, compared to tumors from self-reported white patients. This increase in WGD frequency is observed across multiple cancer types, including breast, endometrial, and lung cancer, and is associated with shorter patient survival. We further demonstrate that combustion byproducts are capable of inducing WGDs in cell culture, and cancers from self-reported Black patients exhibit mutational signatures consistent with exposure to these carcinogens. In total, these findings identify a type of genomic alteration that is associated with environmental exposures and that may influence racial disparities in cancer outcomes.
MeSH
Biological Science Disciplines, Neoplasms, Genome
Cited by
- How exposomic tools complement and enrich genomic research. Cell Genom, 2025
- Scaling for African Inclusion in High-Throughput Whole Cancer Genome Bioinformatic Workflows. Cancers (Basel), 2025