Abstract 4237: CC chemokines are differentially expressed in breast cancer and are associated with racial disparity

Abstract

Despite recent advances in diagnosis and treatment Breast cancer (BrCa) still impacts women’s lives and this impact is disproportional in African Americans (AA) compared to European Americans (EA). Addressing socioeconomic and behavioral status has not reduced the race-specific gap in BrCa outcome, suggesting contribution of biological differences in BrCa disparity. We have previously shown involvement of chemokines in the pathogenesis of BrCa. In this study, we have determined the expression of CC chemokines in BrCa tissues and normal tissues utilizing the ONCOMINE database. Further, we determined clinical parameters associated with the CC chemokines overexpressed in BrCa tissues using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Additionally, using Bc-GenExMiner and KMplotter we determined the effects of CC chemokines on reoccurrence, overall and relapse-free survival. Our analysis shows overexpression of CCL5, CCL7, CCL11, CCL17, CCL20, CCL22 and CCL25 mRNA in BrCa tissues compared to normal. Overexpression of CCL21 and CCL22 were significantly correlated with metastatic recurrence. High mRNA levels of CCL7, CCL8, CCL17, CCL20 and CCL25 predicted a decrease in overall survival and CCL7 and CCL8 expression showed a trend in decreased relapse-free survival. Furthermore, overexpression of CCL17 and CCL25 was associated with decreased overall survival in AA whereas in EA, CCL8 was associated with a decrease in overall survival. Interestingly, expression of CCL5, CCL8, CCL17, CCL20 and CCL25 were highest in TNBC tissues. Expression of CCL11 and CCL22 were associated with HER2. In addition to these, there was an association with CC chemokines expression with age in BrCa. Higher CCL11 expression was noted in younger women and CCL8, CCL20, CCL22 and CCL25 expression was higher in older women. Furthermore, CCL25 was significantly elevated and CCL8 was nearly significant in AA tissues when compared to EA. Expression of CCL7, CCL8, and CCL25 were associated with stage. In conclusion, our analysis suggests an association of CC chemokines in BrCa progression, overall survival and observed disparity in disease outcome between AA and EA patients. Citation Format: Jeronay K. Thomas, Hina Mir, Neeraj Kapur, Shailesh Singh. CC chemokines are differentially expressed in breast cancer and are associated with racial disparity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4237.