Skip to main content

Finding a Cure for Prostate Cancer Among Black Men

NIH and Prostate Cancer Foundation launch large study on aggressive prostate cancer in African-American men

 from press release

The largest coordinated research effort to study biological and non-biological factors associated with aggressive prostate cancer in African-American men has begun.

The $26.5 million study is called RESPOND, or Research on Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry: Defining the Roles of Genetics, Tumor Markers, and Social Stress. It will investigate environmental and genetic factors related to aggressiveness of prostate cancer in African-American men to better understand why they disproportionally experience aggressive disease — that is, disease that grows and spreads quickly — compared with men of other racial and ethnic groups.

RESPOND is supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), both parts of the National Institutes of Health, as well as by the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF). The NCI funding will be provided from the 21st Century Cures Cancer Moonshot Initiative.

“Understanding why African-American men are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer than men of other racial and ethnic groups is a critical, unanswered question in cancer disparities research,” said NCI Director Ned Sharpless, M.D. “This large, collaborative study can help the cancer research community better understand and address these disparities.”

African-American men have about a 15 percent chance of developing prostate cancer in their lifetimes, compared to about a 10 percent chance for white men, and African-American men are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive disease. In addition, the risk of dying from prostate cancer for African-American men is about 4 percent compared to about 2 percent for white men. With the RESPOND study, researchers aim to learn more about why these disparities exist.

Damali Martin, Ph.D.
The investigators aim to enroll 10,000 African-American men with prostate cancer into the RESPOND study. The participants will be identified primarily via NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Program of Cancer Registries. In addition, this study builds on years of research collaboration involving investigators who are part of the African Ancestry Prostate Cancer (AAPC) consortium. These investigators will contribute additional information and samples from 10,000 African-American men with prostate cancer. In accordance with NIH data sharing policies, and with appropriate informed consent, the de-identified data and samples collected as part of this research will be made available as a resource to the scientific community, aiding future research.

Investigators in the study will examine possible associations between aggressive disease and exposures to neighborhood/environmental stressors such as discrimination, early-life adversity, and segregation. They will also study DNA and tumor samples to identify gene variants associated with aggressive prostate cancer. Once researchers have identified genetic changes associated with aggressive prostate cancer, they will investigate how the social environment interacts with those genetic changes.

“Previous research on prostate cancer disparities has investigated social and genetic factors separately, but we know these components interact with each other to contribute to disparities,” said Damali Martin, Ph.D., program director for the study in NCI’s Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program. “The ability to integrate genetic and environmental factors, including individual, neighborhood, and societal factors, into one large study will enable us to have a better understanding of how all of these factors contribute to the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.”

RESPOND, a cooperative agreement, will be led by Christopher Haiman, Sc.D., of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, in collaboration with John Carpten, Ph.D., Ann Hamilton, Ph.D., and David Conti, Ph.D., also of USC; Scarlett Gomez, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco; Tamara Lotan, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; and Franklin Huang, M.D., Ph.D., of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Eliseo Pérez-Stable, M.D.
“This study, which is combining state-of-the-art molecular approaches with social and environmental science, will help unravel the complex interactions of biological, behavioral, and environmental factors that contribute to excess prostate cancer burden and poorer outcomes in African-American men, allowing development of tailored approaches for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in this population,” said NIMHD Director Eliseo Pérez-Stable, M.D.

NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics will perform genotyping, and the Center for Inherited Disease Research at Johns Hopkins University will conduct DNA sequencing for the genetic component of the study. NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences is administering the study grant.

“No group in the world is hit harder by prostate cancer than men of African descent, and, to date, little is known about the biological reasons for these disparities, or the full impact of environmental factors,” said Jonathan W. Simons, M.D., PCF’s president and CEO. “We celebrate our partnership and applaud NIH for spearheading this study, which we believe will help pave the way for groundbreaking discoveries that will improve health equity for African-American men and their families.”

About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and NIH’s efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families, through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call NCI’s Contact Center (formerly known as the Cancer Information Service) at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

About the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD): NIMHD leads scientific research to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities by conducting and supporting research; planning, reviewing, coordinating, and evaluating all minority health and health disparities research at NIH; promoting and supporting the training of a diverse research workforce; translating and disseminating research information; and fostering collaborations and partnerships. For more information, visit nimhd.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Popular posts from this blog

Medicine Wheel for the Planet

Jennifer Grenz, PhD       Working toward ecological healing requires awareness of how Indigenous ancestral knowledge and living ways can complement Western scientific approaches to environmental restoration and protection practices. Dr. Jennifer Grenz (Nlaxa’pamux mixed ancestry) worked for more than two decades as a field researcher and practitioner for environmental nonprofit organizations, where she worked with different levels of government, including First Nations in Canada. "Medicine Wheel for the Planet" compiles Grenz’s most potent realizations about the lack of forward movement in addressing an impending ecological catastrophe.  A warming climate impacts not only human lives but also the natural balance that relies on reciprocal relationships rooted in deep connections to the land. She uses the metaphor of the four directions of the Indigenous “medicine wheel” to invite openness to Indigenous teachings, letting go of colonial narratives, merging lessons f...
Read more

Memento - Embracing the Darkness

Dennis "Dizzy" Doan Stories about overcoming and persevering through family dysfunction, poverty, and mental health challenges offer hope and the promise of better days. Dennis “Dizzy” Doan’s memoir Memento: Embracing the Darkness is one such story, with the added complexity of being raised in an immigrant Vietnamese family. Doan’s parents dealt with the mental and emotional aftermath of war, which forcibly uprooted them from their homeland. In the United States, they struggled to create a safe and stable life for their two sons. Doan shares his journey of finding himself, his craft, and eventually a successful tattoo business in Southern California despite personal strife and run-ins with the law. Doan is best known for developing the aesthetic language to combat anti-Asian hate that erupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. His art series titled “Model Minority” went viral, sparking conversation about Asian American identities and harmful stereotypes. In Memento, Doan showcase...
Read more

Enlighten Me

Editor's Note: This review was originally published in Los Angeles Book Review . Author Minh Lê Standing up for oneself seems like doing the right thing. Binh did just that in the face of a racist school bully who was poking fun at his Asian heritage. But physically assaulting another student goes against school policy, and it was Binh who got in trouble. Binh shares a silent retreat with his family and younger siblings. Along with other children, he learns about stories from the previous lives of the Buddha. The stories are interesting, but for Binh, it is difficult to sit still and clear his mind when he misses his Gameboy. While he struggles with silence, he learns important lessons about friendship, community, and being present. In the graphic novel "Enlighten Me," award-winning author Minh Lê and bestselling illustrator Chan Chau tell the story of a boy who gains a better understanding of himself as he works on quieting the mind and reflecting on dharma. Lê and Ch...
Read more