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Review
. 2020 Dec 8;11(12):1471.
doi: 10.3390/genes11121471.

The Impact of African Ancestry on Prostate Cancer Disparities in the Era of Precision Medicine

Deyana D Lewis  1 , Cheryl D Cropp  2
Affiliations
Review

The Impact of African Ancestry on Prostate Cancer Disparities in the Era of Precision Medicine

Deyana D Lewis et al. Genes (Basel). .

Abstract

Prostate cancer disproportionately affects men of African ancestry at nearly twice the rate of men of European ancestry despite the advancement of treatment strategies and prevention. In this review, we discuss the underlying causes of these disparities including genetics, environmental/behavioral, and social determinants of health while highlighting the implications and challenges that contribute to the stark underrepresentation of men of African ancestry in clinical trials and genetic research studies. Reducing prostate cancer disparities through the development of personalized medicine approaches based on genetics will require a holistic understanding of the complex interplay of non-genetic factors that disproportionately exacerbate the observed disparity between men of African and European ancestries.

Keywords: African ancestry; clinical trials; genetics; health disparity; prostate cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age-adjusted prostate cancer (PCa) incidence (A) and mortality rates (B), 2000–2017. Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute. SEER Incidence and U.S. Mortality Statistics (https://seer.cancer.gov/explorer/) 2020 [15].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age standardize global prostate cancer incident and mortality rate by world regions, 2018 [16].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Contributions of individuals of different ancestral populations to newly discovered genome-wide association studies [259].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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