National Cancer Institute
Cancer Control & Population Sciences Home - NCI's Bridge to Public Health Research, Practice and Policy

Grant Details

Grant Number: 5R01CA133264-03 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator: Ambrosone, Christine
Organization: Roswell Park Cancer Institute Corp
Project Title: DNA Methylation: a Mechanism for Aggressive Breast Cancer in African-American Wom
Fiscal Year: 2012
Back to top


Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although European-American (EA) women, overall, have higher incidence of breast cancer than African-American (AA) women, AA women are more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age, and to have more aggressive tumors, characterized by higher grade, higher proliferative indices, and lack of expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors. The reasons for these racial differences in breast cancer biology and age at onset are unknown, but it is possible that differential gene methylation could affect these differences in tumor biology. Furthermore, little is known regarding factors that affect gene methylation in breast cancer. Insight into predictors of gene methylation could target risk factors for aggressive breast cancer in both AA and EA women for prevention. To investigate this question, we will perform a two stage design study. In the first discovery stage, we will perform genome-wide methylation on a sample of 100 freshly frozen tissues from 100 AA and 100 EA breast cancer patients for discovery of genes that are most differentially methylated between the races and that differentiate between high and low aggressive disease. Those most significantly different by race and aggressiveness will be assessed in tissues from women participating in an on-going case-control study designed to investigate predictors of early/aggressive breast cancer in AA women. Using the Illumina GoldenGate Assay, tissues from 500 AA and 500 EA women will be evaluated to determine if methylation patterns differ between the groups. We will also determine if methylation is associated with younger age, ER status and ''triple negative' tumors. Finally, we will investigate the potential role of folate and related nutritional factors, as well as alcohol consumption in predicting methylation patterns within each group. Results from this study will provide extremely important information regarding the etiology of aggressive breast cancers, and may greatly elucidate reasons for this more lethal form of disease among AA women. Because methylation can be reversed, interrogation of these differences could identify targets for prevention and early detection, as well as for treatment. Public Health Relevance: This project will identify genes that are differentially methylated between African- American and European-American women and potential predictors of methylation patterns. As such, it could provide insight into factors related to the aggressive breast cancers observed in African-American women. Because methylation is reversible, it may also provide new directions for prevention and therapeutics.

Back to top


Publications

OSAT: a tool for sample-to-batch allocations in genomics experiments.
Authors: Yan L, Ma C, Wang D, Hu Q, Qin M, Conroy JM, Sucheston LE, Ambrosone CB, Johnson CS, Wang J, Liu S
Source: BMC Genomics, 2012 Dec 10;13, p. 689.
EPub date: 2012 Dec 10.
PMID: 23228338
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NCI NIH HHS - R01-CA095045 NCI NIH HHS - R21CA162218 NCI NIH HHS - R01CA133264
NHLBI NIH HHS - R01HL102278 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA095045

Back to top


IMA: an R package for high-throughput analysis of Illumina's 450K Infinium methylation data.
Authors: Wang D, Yan L, Hu Q, Sucheston LE, Higgins MJ, Ambrosone CB, Johnson CS, Smiraglia DJ, Liu S
Source: Bioinformatics, 2012 Mar 1;28(5), p. 729-30.
EPub date: 2012 Jan 16.
PMID: 22253290
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NCI NIH HHS - R01-CA09045 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA067267-18 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA067267
NCI NIH HHS - R01-CA133264

MeSH Terms:
Software Genome, Human Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
DNA Methylation Humans CpG Islands

Back to top


Parity and lactation in relation to estrogen receptor negative breast cancer in African American women.
Authors: Palmer JR, Boggs DA, Wise LA, Ambrosone CB, Adams-Campbell LL, Rosenberg L
Source: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, 2011 Sep;20(9), p. 1883-91.
EPub date: 2011 Aug 16.
PMID: 21846820
Related Citations

Grant Numbers:
NIEHS NIH HHS - U01 ES019435 NICHD NIH HHS - R01 HD060680 NCI NIH HHS - P30 CA016056
NCI NIH HHS - U10 CA37429 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA058420 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA133264
NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA136483 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA193426 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA058420-19
NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA126841 NCRR NIH HHS - UL1RR031975 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA098663
NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA105274 NCI NIH HHS - R01 CA116395 NCI NIH HHS - P30 CA51008
NICHD NIH HHS - R01 HD057966 NCI NIH HHS - R21 CA149996 NICHD NIH HHS - R01 HD057210

MeSH Terms:
Parity Young Adult Risk Factors
Humans Adult Breast Neoplasms
African Americans Female Receptors, Estrogen
Lactation

Back to top




Last Updated: August 24, 2012
NIH - Turning Discovery Into Health
National Cancer InstituteU.S. National Institutes of HealthNational Cancer Institute