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. 2021 Nov 26:11:732443.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.732443. eCollection 2021.

An Assessment of Ovarian Cancer Histotypes Across the African Diaspora

Sophia H L George  1   2   3 , Ayodele Omotoso  3   4 , Andre Pinto  3   5 , Aisha Mustapha  3   6 , Alex P Sanchez-Covarrubias  1 , Usman Aliyu Umar  3   7 , Ali Bala Umar  3   7 , Timothy Abiola Oluwasola  3   8 , Clement Abu Okolo  3   9 , Umeh Uchenna Anthony  3   10 , Francis Ikechukwu Ukekwe  3   10 , Maisaratu A Bakari  3   11 , Aminu M C Dahiru  3   11 , Habiba Ibrahim Abdullahi  3   12 , Bawa Ahmed Abimiku  3   12 , Aisha Abdurrahman  3   13 , Asmau Usman  3   13 , Saad Aliyu Ahmed  3   14 , Hadiza Abdullahi Usman  3   15 , Abba Kabir  3   15 , George Uchenna Eleje  3   16 , Michael Emeka Chiemeka  3   17 , Emily Nzeribe  3   18 , Ikechukwu Nweke  3   18 , SaiduAbubakar Kadas  3   19 , Dauda E Suleiman  3   19 , Etim Ekanem  3   4 , Umemmuo Maureen Uche  3   20 , Jibrin Paul  3   20 , Uzoma Maryrose Agwu  3   21 , Felix O Edegbe  3   21 , Rose I Anorlu  3   22 , Adekunbiola Banjo  3   22 , Kayode Olusegun Ajenifuja  3   23 , Adegboyega Adisa Fawole  3   24 , Ibrahim O O Kazeem  3   24 , Francis Magaji  3   25 , Olugbenga Silas  3   25 , Boma Precious Athanasius  3   26 , Nyengidiki Kennedy Tamunomie  3   27 , Emem Bassey  3   28 , Kunle Abudu  3   28 , Ibrahim G Ango  3   29 , Kabiru Abdullahi  3   29 , Ishak Lawal  3   30 , Suleiman Aliyu Kabir  3   30 , Victor Ekanem  3   31 , Michael Ezeanochie  3   32 , Usman Rahman Yahaya  3   33 , Melissa Nicole Castillo  1 , Vishal Bahall  34 , Vikash Chatrani  35 , Ian Brambury  2   36 , Saida Bowe  2   37 , Darron Halliday  2   37 , George Bruney  37 , Raleigh Butler  2   37 , Camille Ragin  2   38 , Folakemi Odedina  2   39 , Srikar Chamala  40 , Matthew Schlumbrecht  1   2   3 , Bala Audu  3   15   16
Affiliations

An Assessment of Ovarian Cancer Histotypes Across the African Diaspora

Sophia H L George et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Objective: Ovarian cancer in Black women is common in many West African countries but is relatively rare in North America. Black women have worse survival outcomes when compared to White women. Ovarian cancer histotype, diagnosis, and age at presentation are known prognostic factors for outcome. We sought to conduct a preliminary comparative assessment of these factors across the African diaspora.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer (all histologies) between June 2016-December 2019 in Departments of Pathology at 25 participating sites in Nigeria were identified. Comparative population-based data, inclusive of Caribbean-born Blacks (CBB) and US-born Blacks (USB), were additionally captured from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and Florida Cancer Data Systems. Histology, country of birth, and age at diagnosis data were collected and evaluated across the three subgroups: USB, CBB and Nigerians. Statistical analyses were done using chi-square and student's t-test with significance set at p<0.05.

Results: Nigerians had the highest proportion of germ cell tumor (GCT, 11.5%) and sex-cord stromal (SCST, 16.2%) ovarian cancers relative to CBB and USB (p=0.001). CBB (79.4%) and USB (77.3%) women were diagnosed with a larger proportion of serous ovarian cancer than Nigerians (60.4%) (p<0.0001). Nigerians were diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancers at the youngest age (51.7± 12.8 years) relative to USB (58.9 ± 15.0) and CBB (59.0± 13.0,p<0.001). Black women [CBB (25.2 ± 15.0), Nigerians (29.5 ± 15.1), and USB (33.9 ± 17.9)] were diagnosed with GCT younger than White women (35.4 ± 20.5, p=0.011). Black women [Nigerians (47.5 ± 15.9), USB (50.9 ± 18.3) and CBB (50.9 ± 18.3)] were also diagnosed with SCST younger than White women (55.6 ± 16.5, p<0.01).

Conclusion: There is significant variation in age of diagnosis and distribution of ovarian cancer histotype/diagnosis across the African diaspora. The etiology of these findings requires further investigation.

Keywords: Caribbean; Nigeria; black women; epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC); germ cell; ovarian cancer; sex cord stromal.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Estimated number of ovarian cancer cases expected globally. Low- and middle-income countries expect to see significant increase in newly diagnosed cases. (B) Mortality versus incidence rates of ovarian cancer in countries with majority Black women compared to USA and Canada.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Study sites across Nigeria that participated in study. (B) Distribution of ovarian cancer cases by histology in Nigeria.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Distribution of tumor histology by cohort. (B) Distribution of Serous tumor types in Black women.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of cases by age across the comparative groups. (A, C, E) Histograms by histologic type EOC, Germ Cell and Sex Cord Stromal tumors. (B, D, F) ANOVA comparing mean age at cancer diagnosis across different cohorts and histologic type.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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