Evaluating Obesity-Mediated Mechanisms of Pancreatic Carcinogenesis in Minority Populations
Abstract
Coinciding with a rise in pancreatic cancer diagnoses and deaths is a notable health disparity, with African Americans having significantly higher cancer incidence and mortality rates compared to Non-Hispanic Whites. Biological reasons for these disparities are underexplored since most pancreatic cancer research has been conducted using data, biospecimens, medical images, and experimental models from Non-Hispanic Whites. Obesity is a condition more common in African Americans than Non-Hispanic Whites that causes an excess amount and/or distribution of body fat. People who are obese are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer (a 30% increased risk) than people who are not obese. Obesity is also linked to the progression of pancreatic cancer, failure to respond to therapy, and poorer survival. To address the obesity-pancreatic cancer link, there is a critical need to comprehensively study and target fat tissue, also called adipose tissue, among patients with pancreatic cancer. As such, the proposed research project primarily addresses the FY21 Pancreatic Cancer Research Partnership Focus Area, which seeks to understand the relationship between obesity and pancreatic cancer. This project will also focus on the underserved African American community who has more aggressive disease and worse outcomes than other racial and ethnic groups. The overall objective of this study is to examine and compare features of pancreatic cancer tumors, adipose tissues, and medical images in healthy-weight and obese African American and Non-Hispanic White patients. Such information will be used to test new combinations of drugs that can be used to target interactions between adipose tissue and pancreatic cancer cells, with the hope of stopping or slowing down pancreatic cancer development and progression and improving response to treatments. The impact of this proposal is far-reaching in both the short-term and long-term for multiple reasons: 1. In the short-term, this study will identify a biological profile for obese vs healthy-weight African American and Non-Hispanic White patients with pancreatic cancer. Such a profile will be based on tissue and imaging differences and may lead to understanding how we can better tailor pancreatic cancer treatment for individuals who are African American. 2. In the long-term, this study has the potential to dramatically enhance the quality of life and survival for African American individuals with pancreatic cancer and minimize disparities. The study team will use a high-throughput format to test the effectiveness of many cancer drugs at once for a single patient using cells from that patient. This means that we can screen for a therapy that is predicted to be effective against that patient s cancer without posing a risk to a patient. Individualized cancer care is a powerful tool in our fight against this complex disease and these studies may make that possible for African American pancreatic cancer patients. Furthermore, it is our team s intent to translate what we learn in the context of therapy to develop strategies to prevent pancreatic cancer or detect it as early as possible. In conclusion, the proposed studies cast a wide net to find differences in pancreatic cancer tumors and adipose tissues in both African American and Non-Hispanic White individuals with pancreatic cancer. These studies have the potential to greatly enhance the ability of the medical team to target cancer care to individuals, an important step in the treatment of this deadly disease.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2022
- Source ID
- W81XWH2211021
Entities
People
- Jennifer B Permuth-Way
Organizations
- H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
- United States Army