Scientists are learning more every day about how mutations in an individual's genes can affect their health. But now we’re learning that differences in underlying genetics based on ancestry can lead to different outcomes for groups of people with the same blood cancer.
A new study supported by Blood Cancer United and others sheds light on the role of ancestry among children with a blood cancer called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL.
Researchers found that most children with T-ALL have at least one altered or “mutated” gene in their cancer. For example, 73% of these children have a mutation in the “NOTCH” pathway.
But the impact of this mutation is not the same for all of them. The NOTCH pathway mutation is associated with better survival rates in children with European or mixed ancestry, but not in children with African ancestry.
“Our findings highlight the need to consider genetic ancestry when developing risk classifiers for patients with cancer. Otherwise, we risk treating patients of different ancestral backgrounds the wrong way,” says Dr. David Teachey, a Blood Cancer United-supported scientist and researcher at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who is one of the study authors.
“Risk classifiers” are tools physicians use to make a prognosis in cancer patients. T-ALL classifiers that make a prognosis based, even in part, on the presence of the NOTCH mutation will not be as helpful or accurate for patients with predominantly African ancestry.
The research by Dr. Teachey and his colleagues also identified differences in other, less common gene mutations that play a role in T-ALL. For example, mutant TLX1 is found more often in those with European ancestry, while mutant MLLT10 is found more often in those with African ancestry.
“These findings have implications beyond children and beyond this particular type of cancer,” says Lore Gruenbaum, PhD, Blood Cancer United Chief Scientific Officer. She went on to explain that understanding genetic differences in individuals and entire ancestral groups for one cancer helps lay the foundation for similar work and understanding in others.
“At Blood Cancer United, our scientists understand the complexity of cancer, and we are dedicated to explaining it at the most fundamental level because that is how we come up with new, more effective treatments tailored to each person’s cancer.”
This study was supported by Blood Cancer United through a Specialized Center of Research Program to Dr. David Teachey. Study lead author, Dr. Haley Newman, is currently supported by a Blood Cancer United Career Development Program Special Fellow award. The study was published in Blood Cancer Discovery and built on earlier work supported by Blood Cancer United and published in Nature.
Blood Cancer United thanks the Salah Foundation for their generous support of Dr. Teachey’s research.