Genomics of racial and ethnic disparities in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

While the cure rates of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have improved dramatically in the past 40 years, not all children have benefited equally from this impressive progress. Racial and ethnic disparities in the incidence and treatment outcome of childhood ALL persist with Hispanic children having an elevated risk of developing ALL and one of the lowest survival rates after ALL therapy. A critical barrier to progress is that we lack the understanding of the causes of ALL disparities, particularly racial and ethnic differences in ALL biology. This review summarizes the current knowledge on population variation in childhood ALL incidence and treatment outcome, discusses the contributing genetic and non-genetic variables, and highlights possible therapeutic interventions to mitigate disparities in ALL.

Thiopurine Methyltransferase Genotype Testing in Paediatric Patients in South Australia. A Retrospective Audit into Prescribing Practices.

“…This study has identified some key areas of deviation from established guidelines and offers the opportunity to reflect and improve on our prescribing practices. subspecialty unit and ethnicity implies certain ethnic groups may be more prone to certain diseases; this is consistent with previous findings [28][29][30].…”

DNA methylation and leukemia susceptibility in China: Evidence from an updated meta-analysis

“…Previous studies have reported that the risk of hematological malignancies varies significantly among different ethnic groups (9,13,134,135). The present meta-analysis indicated that there was no association between CDKN2A methylation and the risk of leukemia (P=0.16) in Europeans, while a significant association was observed in Chinese populations (P<0.00001).…”

“…These disparities are likely due to a combination of genetic, environmental and socioeconomic factors (13), which may affect epigenetic changes. Epigenetics, such as DNA methylation, have been shown to play an important role in cancer susceptibility (14,15).…”

Ph-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a high-risk subtype in adults

“…33,34 Together, these data provide a plausible explanation for increased incidence and poor outcomes of Hispanic patients with B-ALL and may explain the higher incidence of Ph-like ALL seen in adults within the United States vs other non-Hispanic Northern European populations. 35,36 The significantly high number of patients of Hispanic ethnicity in our study reflects the referral pattern for our institution.…”