Racial disparities in liver cancer: Evidence for a role of environmental contaminants and the epigenome.
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2022-01
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Abstract
Liver cancer incidence has tripled since the early 1980s, making this disease one of the fastest rising types of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. In the US, incidence varies by geographic location and race, with the highest incidence in the southwestern and southeastern states and among racial minorities such as Hispanic and Black individuals. Prognosis is also poorer among these populations. The observed ethnic disparities do not fully reflect differences in the prevalence of risk factors, e.g., for cirrhosis that may progress to liver cancer or from genetic predisposition. Likely substantial contributors to risk are environmental factors, including chemical and non-chemical stressors; yet, the paucity of mechanistic insights impedes prevention efforts. Here, we review the current literature and evaluate challenges to reducing liver cancer disparities. We also discuss the hypothesis that epigenetic mediators may provide biomarkers for early detection to support interventions that reduce disparities.
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Vidal, Adriana C, Cynthia A Moylan, Julius Wilder, Delores J Grant, Susan K Murphy and Cathrine Hoyo (2022). Racial disparities in liver cancer: Evidence for a role of environmental contaminants and the epigenome. Frontiers in oncology, 12. p. 959852. 10.3389/fonc.2022.959852 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/28281.
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Cynthia Ann Moylan
My research interests focus on the study of chronic liver disease and primary liver cancer, particularly from metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). As part of the MASLD Research Team at Duke, we are investigating the role of environmental contaminants, epigenetics, and genetics on the development of advanced fibrosis and liver cancer from MASLD and other chronic liver diseases. We are also interested in understanding risks for progressive liver disease including developmental programming and in utero exposures and have been investigating these risks through studies of the Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST). The long term goal of our research is to develop non-invasive biomarkers to identify those patients at increased risk for cirrhosis and end stage liver disease in order to risk stratify patients as well as to develop better preventative and therapeutic strategies.
Julius Middleton Wilder
Susan Kay Murphy
Dr. Murphy is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and serves as Chief of the Division of Reproductive Sciences. As a molecular biologist with training in human epigenetics, her research interests are largely centered around the role of epigenetic modifications in health and disease.
Dr. Murphy has ongoing projects on gynecologic malignancies, including approaches to eradicate ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and later give rise to recurrent disease. Dr. Murphy is actively involved in many collaborative projects relating to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).
Her lab is currently working on preconception environmental exposures in males, particularly on the impact of cannabis on the sperm epigenome and the potential heritability of these effects. They are also studying the epigenetic and health effects of in utero exposures, with primary focus on children from the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST), a pregnancy cohort she co-founded who were recruited from central North Carolina between 2005 and 2011. Dr. Murphy and her colleagues continue to follow NEST children to determine relationships between prenatal exposures and later health outcomes.
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