Abstract

Background

African American women have the highest risk of breast cancer mortality compared to other racial groups. Differences in tumor characteristics have been implicated as a possible cause; however, the tumor microenvironment may also contribute to this disparity in mortality. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a stroma-derived marker of the tumor microenvironment that may affect tumor progression differentially by race.

Objective

To examine whether an HGF gene expression signature is differentially expressed by race and tumor characteristics.

Methods

Invasive breast tumors from 1957 patients were assessed for a 38-gene RNA-based HGF gene expression signature. Participants were black (n = 1033) and non-black (n = 924) women from the population-based Carolina Breast Cancer Study (1993–2013). Generalized linear models were used to estimate the relative frequency differences (RFD) in HGF status by race, clinical, and demographic factors.

Results

Thirty-two percent of tumors were positive for the HGF signature. Black women were more likely [42% vs. 21%; RFD = + 19.93% (95% CI 16.00, 23.87)] to have HGF-positive tumors compared to non-black women. Triple-negative patients had a higher frequency of HGF positivity [82% vs. 13% in non-triple-negative; RFD = + 65.85% (95% CI 61.71, 69.98)], and HGF positivity was a defining feature of basal-like subtype [92% vs. 8% in non-basal; RFD = + 81.84% (95% CI 78.84, 84.83)]. HGF positivity was associated with younger age, stage, higher grade, and high genomic risk of recurrence (ROR-PT) score.

Conclusion

HGF expression is a defining feature of basal-like tumors, and its association with black race and young women suggests it may be a candidate pathway for understanding breast cancer disparities.

Details

Title
Hepatocyte growth factor pathway expression in breast cancer by race and subtype
Author
Jones, Gieira S; Hoadley, Katherine A; Olsson, Linnea T; Hamilton, Alina M; Bhattacharya, Arjun; Kirk, Erin L; Tipaldos, Heather J; Fleming, Jodie M; Love, Michael I; Nichols, Hazel B; Olshan, Andrew F; Troester, Melissa A
Pages
1-10
Section
Research article
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
BioMed Central
ISSN
1465-5411
e-ISSN
1465542X
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2562579012
Copyright
© 2021. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.