Abstract IA038: Race and immune microenvironments in context of individual- and community-level covariates

Abstract

Abstract Black women and women with African Ancestry have higher frequency of aggressive breast cancer subtypes, namely triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) or Basal-like breast cancer, and often have tumors that show immunogenic features. Under a cells-to-society conceptual model of racialized breast cancer outcomes, differences in tumor biology and microenvironment interact with individual- and community-level variables so that differences in tumor biology reflect ancestry in combination with social determinants of health. Using data and biospecimens from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, we evaluated immune expression by gene expression analysis and by immunofluorescence and other spatial techniques. Our results show that Black women more frequently have immunogenic tumors with a robust adaptive immune response, in accordance with higher frequency of Basal-like breast cancers. Adaptive immune response was also associated with specific breast cancer genetic features, such as p53 status, and was associated with differential recurrence outcomes. Immunogenic tumors of Basal-like subtype were also associated with individual-level socioeconomic factors (education, income, prediagnostic health care utilization) and community-level socioeconomic factors (census tract-level poverty and disadvantage). These data suggest that while some biologically-targeted therapies may help narrow disparities in breast cancer outcomes among those diagnosed with breast cancer, individual- and community-level variables are also important and may help to identify intervention strategies for prevention of aggressive subtypes. Citation Format: Melissa A. Troester. Race and immune microenvironments in context of individual- and community-level covariates [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr IA038.