Newswise — BALTIMORE, MD, July 12, 2024 — Those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have significantly higher activity of stress-related genes, new research suggests, which could contribute to higher rates of aggressive prostate cancer in African American men. The study, which was co-led by the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), was published today in JAMA Network Open . African American men have a higher incidence of prostate cancer and are more than twice as likely to die from the disease than White men in the U.
S. They are often diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and at an earlier age, but the reasons are not well understood. “Our findings suggest an impact of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods – which more commonly affects African Americans – on stress-related genetic pathways in the body.
We believe this may increase an individual’s risk of aggressive prostate cancer and contribute to prostate cancer disparities by race,” said the senior author, Kathryn Hughes Barry, PhD, MPH , Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UMSOM and a cancer epidemiology researcher at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC). The study found that neighborhood disadvantage was associated with significantly higher activity, or expression, of stress-related genes. Experiencing extreme hardships or trauma can affect how much the genes in our DNA are ex.