We have long known that breast cancer mortality is higher among African-American women than in the population at large. The nature of the disparity, however, is not entirely understood. In 2007, Komen funded a fellowship that allowed researcher Emeka Ihemelandu to study the Howard University Hospital tumor registry, analyzing breast cancer subtypes among African-American women.

 

 

We have long known that breast cancer mortality is higher among African-American women than in the population at large. The nature of the disparity, however, is not entirely understood. In 2007, Komen funded a fellowship that allowed researcher Emeka Ihemelandu to study the Howard University Hospital tumor registry, analyzing breast cancer subtypes among African-American women. The research revealed a higher prevalence of the basal-celllike subtype — a particularly deadly form of the disease — among African-American women age 35 or younger as compared to Caucasian counterparts.

 

While the Howard University study identified the prevalence of deadly breast cancer subtypes in African-American women, another Komen-funded study by Indira Poola focused on ways to predict the aggressive cancer development even before tumors form. The study proposed looking for markers in the benign tissue of women who subsequently developed cancer, paving the way for screening to detect the presence of the markers in healthy tissue. The goal is early detection, early treatment and improved survival rates.