Vim & Vigor - Summer 2021 - 19

19

Colonoscopy:
'Piece of Cake'

UVA Researchers
Find the Colon
'Ages' Quickly in
Some People

PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

When actor Chadwick Boseman
died of colon cancer last summer at age 43, people around the
world mourned-and Black people, especially, became even more
acutely aware that they are at
higher risk of some cancers than
others. In particular, Black people
are 20 percent more likely than
white people to develop-and
40 percent more likely to die-of
colorectal cancer. New research
helps partly explain these
racial disparities.
Scientists led by UVA Health's 
Li Li, MD, and Graham Casey, along
with Matt Devall of the Center for
Public Health Genomics, found
that one side of the colon ages
biologically faster than the other
in African Americans and people
of European descent. In African
Americans, however, the right
side ages significantly faster,
explaining why they are more
likely to develop cancer on the
right side and why they are more
likely to suffer colorectal cancer
at a younger age, the researchers say. The discovery could also
explain why younger people of
European descent are more likely
to develop cancer on the left side,
the side that tends to age faster
in that group.
" Our discovery is a step forward
in our effort to prevent colorectal
cancer and reduce racial disparities in this deadly disease, " Dr.
Li says.

something to do
with immune system
inflammation. But we
need to do more research
on this and on all causes of
disparity, because we need
to be able to pick signs of
cancer up earlier and treat it
more effectively, " he says.

THE BIOLOGY
OF CANCER

Human biology also plays
a role in cancer disparities.
Rates of stomach cancer are
higher in Indigenous people,
for example. Researchers
were flummoxed by this,
but eventually they learned
that people with those
ancestries are more likely
to have a specific bacterium
in their stomachs, Cance
says. Antibiotics can destroy
the bacterium, but the
microorganism often goes
undetected and untreated.
" And the reasons are the
same-the access, getting
care to the patients. The
social issues, the mistrust
issues and the financial
issues, " he says.
Hepatitis B, which
increases a person's risk
of liver cancer, is endemic
among Asian populations,
Cance says.
Ancestry, too, can be
a factor: After researchers sequenced the human
genome in 2003, they identified two gene mutations that
put women at higher risk of
breast and ovarian cancers-
BRCA1 and BRCA2. Women
of Ashkenazi Jewish descent
are for some reason especially susceptible to these

" I did it! " Watch a video of people
sharing their experiences with
this lifesaving cancer screening at
UVA. Visit uvahealth.com/i-did-it.

genes-1 in 40 has a BRCA
gene mutation, according
to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Black women, researchers
have learned, are more
likely than white women
to get triple-negative
breast cancer, a particularly aggressive
form that has a higher
death rate than other
breast cancers.
Prevention and early
detection are crucial,
Brown says.
" Sometimes what we
see is once women have an
abnormal screening finding,
there's a delay between the
time they get that result
and the time they get back
into follow-up care, " Brown
says. " And then there is the
potential for that woman
to be diagnosed at a later
stage, and that, of course,
can be associated with
poorer outcomes. "
That's why people of all
races need access to screenings and treatment, say
Cance, Brown and other
physicians and advocates
working to close the gap.
Cancer is hard enough
without being further hindered by skin color; people
of all races and ethnicities
should have an equal chance
of surviving it. *
VIM & VIGOR SUMMER 2021

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4/28/21 10:32 AM
http://www.uvahealth.com/i-did-it
Vim & Vigor - Summer 2021

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