HEROIC Prostate Cancer Precision Health (PCaPH) Africa1K: Powering Precision Health to Improve Prostate Cancer Outcomes in Africa
Abstract
Prostate cancer is a silent killer in Africa. Globally, being from Africa doubles your risk for a prostate cancer-associated death. In the United States, being of African ancestry not only doubles your risk; it also increases it threefold for African American men younger than 65 years of age. There is a significant disparity in prostate cancer health outcomes associated with geography (Africa) and ethnicity (African ancestry), suggesting environment, lifestyle, or genetic contributing factors. The overarching goal of the HEROIC PCaPH Africa1K Consortium is to save lives by reducing the rate of prostate cancer deaths in Africa and beyond. How will we achieve our ambitious goal? Through grassroots partnership and cutting-edge discovery, we aim to develop a roadmap for precision health through the identification of which factors are contributing to global prostate cancer disparities. A roadmap that includes those most impacted by lethality. What is precision health? It is an approach to healthcare that treats the entire person as an individual. It takes one’s environmental, lifestyle, and genetics into consideration when diagnosing, preventing, and treating diseases like prostate cancer. As the rest of the world is marching forward into this new era, Africa and Africans have been left behind. Our vision is to close the gap. Our hypothesis is that BOTH genetic (represented by ethnicity) and non-genetic (through geography and lifestyle) forces are synergistically and to varying degrees contributing to disparities in prostate cancer health outcomes. First, we propose that Africa, with the highest genetic, environmental and lifestyle diversity, holds untapped potential to identify these contributing factors. Second, we propose that, to identify these factors, we need to work together; we cannot as medical researchers look at each separately. We need a synergistic approach. Third, we propose that environmental exposures such as yet unknown carcinogens can be identified through big data genomics, as these mutagens have left an exposure signature in the DNA of the cancerous prostate that is just waiting to be discovered. Our objective is to harness the power of genomic interrogation and big data science to identify what is driving prostate cancer disparity in Africa/Africans. What do we mean by big data? Through recruiting 1,000 prostate cancer patients in a unique all African study (Africa1K), we will generate the largest precision health resource of its kind. Including clinical and lifestyle data, with multi-platformed genomic data, we will merge Petabytes of DNA code with environmental exposure data using a new wave of large-scale screening. How will we make sense of our all African data? Besides assembling a team of very smart data scientists from around the world, we have designed a study that uniquely captures the true diversity in exposure environments (geography and lifestyles) and African ethnicity. From inclusion of pesticide-exposed subsistence farming communities in the high mountains of East Africa, to a Southern African urban sprawl in transition, to the United States and the metropolis of Chicago, where African American men are disproportionally impacted by prostate cancer. Identifying the underlying causes of prostate cancer health disparities has significant scientific and clinical impact. While a model for precision health, as a global disease, this research will advance our understanding of the prostate cancer etiology and the hope of early detection. The social impact is reducing health inequity. In the African philosophy of Ubuntu, I am because of who we ALL are. Our hope is to bring the ALL into the benefit of precision health for prostate cancer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2022
- Source ID
- W81XWH2210497
Entities
People
- Vanessa Hayes
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Sydney