Investigating Genomic Differences by Ethnicity in Breast, Colorectal and Prostate Cancers: Secondary Data Analysis of the Genomic Data Commons (GDC) Database

Jack Steven Carr, Mark A Faghy, David Broom, Ruth Ashton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objective: Globally, millions of cancer cases are diagnosed annually and mortality rates continue to rise with breast (BC), colorectal (CRC) and prostate (PC) cancer among the most prevalent. Race and ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes have been well-documented; however, the underlying factors contributing to these disparities are currently unknown. Design: This study utilised the Genomic Data Commons (GDC) Portal, a publicly accessible repository, therefore ethical approval was not required. Cancer incidence data were collected by prevalent gene mutations associated with BC, CRC and PC within White, Black and Asian populations. Rolling one-year survival rates were constructed for each genetic mutation. Results: For BC, Black and Asian individuals exhibited higher percentages of cases associated with TP53 mutations compared to Whites. CRC incidence showed Black individuals exhibited higher percentages of cases associated with APC, KRAS and PIK3CA mutations compared to Whites and Asians. PC incidence demonstrated that Black individuals had elevated percentages of cases associated with SPOP, ATM and SYNE1 mutations compared to Whites and Asians. Asian individuals displayed significantly lower survival percentages over 10 years compared to White and Black populations across genetic mutations associated with BC. White individuals exhibited significantly higher survival percentages over 10 years compared to Black individuals across genetic mutations associated with CRC. Conclusion: Significant disparities exist in cancer incidence and survival rates across White, Black and Asian populations. These findings demonstrate the importance of targeted approaches in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment to address disparities and the need for equitable healthcare. Further research is needed to identify mechanisms driving such disparities and to develop effective strategies to improve cancer outcomes across diverse ethnic populations.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere71018
Number of pages11
JournalCancer Medicine
Volume14
Issue number20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Oct 2025

Bibliographical note

© 2025 The Author(s). Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited..

Funding

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. We would like to thank the National Cancer Institute for providing open access to the Genomic Data Commons. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to both Coventry University and the University of Derby for providing the necessary resources and support to conduct this research. Special thanks to my supervisory team, including Dr. Ruth Ashton, Prof. David Broom and Prof. Mark Faghy for their invaluable guidance, mentorship and continued support throughout this study. I would also like to acknowledge to our colleagues at the Research Centre for Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Sciences (PASES) for their feedback and encouragement. Additionally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their encouragement and understanding during the writing of this paper. Finally, I would like to extend an immense thanks to my partner, Anna, for her unwavering support, meticulous reviews of my work and assistance with spellchecking. I love you all.

Keywords

  • cancer
  • epidemiology
  • ethnicity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investigating Genomic Differences by Ethnicity in Breast, Colorectal and Prostate Cancers: Secondary Data Analysis of the Genomic Data Commons (GDC) Database'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this