Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Genetic Research, UT Southwestern / 23.09.2016
Genetic Ancestry using Mitochondrial DNA in patients with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Roshni Rao, M.D
Breast Surgery
University of Texas Southwestern
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by not having estrogen, progesterone, or Her2Neu receptors. Although a less common type, it is aggressive, and leads to a disproportionate number of deaths from breast cancer.
TNBC is more common in young, African American women, but can be found in other ethnic groups as well.
This study performed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, to evaluate for patient genetic ancestry, in 92 patients with TNBC. In regards to self-identified ethnicity, there were 31 African-Americans, 31 Whites, and 30 Hispanics. Utilizing mtDNA, 13% of patients had discordance between self identified ethnicity and mtDNA analysis. Discordance was highest in the Hispanic group. The Hispanic patients were also much younger at initial age of diagnosis, and less likely to have a family history of breast cancer. Ancestry from Nigeria, Cameroon, or Sierre Leone were most common in the African-Americans with triple negative breast cancer.
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