The proposed feasibility study is to determine our ability to conduct an international multicentered collaboration. The study will investigate whether epidemiological and clinical risk factors as well as standard and novel tumor markers which predict for increased incidence and prognosis of breast cancer differ, between women in Mexico and Mexican-American women living in the United States (US).
Primary Aims
1. To compare profiles of tumor markers of prognostic and/or predictive importance (ER, PR, HER-2/neu, Ki67) and more novel tumor markers (cyclin D, cyclin E, p27, PTEN, GATA-3, TRPS1, APTá) between women in Mexico and Mexican-American living in the US.
2. To assess whether differences in markers are more pronounced in postmenopausal women compared to premenopausal women and whether these are explained by factors associated with acquisition of lifestyles more representative of the US (low parity, late age at first birth, adult weight gain pattern, and body composition (waist circumference and body mass index).
In addition to our primary aims, we propose 3 secondary aims: 1) in the Houston area only (at M. D. Anderson, LBJ Hospital and the Rose Clinic) we will compare breast cancer risk factors and standard and novel tumor markers between Mexican-American and African American women and conduct descriptive statistics; 2) to evaluate the prevalence of no more than 500,000 polymorphic sites in parafin embedded and fresh frozen tumor samples using high density SNP arrays. We will explore whether there are differences in tumor chromosomal changes between women in Mexico and Mexican American living in the US; 3) to develop a platform to determine the genetic admixture of women in Mexico and Mexican-Americans using whole blood or saliva cell derived germline DNA. The level of population mixing of European and indigenous American ancestry will be correlated with the panel of standard tumor markers and the patterns of chromosomal aberrations observed in the tumor samples. |