This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Hispanic children at-risk for fatal ALL

Xu H. J Clin Oncol. 2012;doi:10.1200/JCO.2011.38.0345.

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Hispanic children are more likely to be diagnosed with fatal acute lymphoblastic leukemia than those from other racial and ethnic backgrounds, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Based on prior studies that identified variations in the ARID5B gene associated with susceptibility to childhood ALL, researchers examined the role of ARID5B single nucleotide polymorphisms to racial disparities in ALL susceptibility and treatment results. This study also was intended to expand on earlier established research that linked different versions of the ARID5B gene to ALL risk.

To compare the association between ARID5B SNP genotype and ALL susceptibility in whites vs. Hispanics, researchers inspected the relationships between ARID5B SNP genotype and ALL relapse risk in 1,605 children treated in the P9904/9905 clinical trials from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), a US-based research cooperative study group focused on childhood cancer research and clinical trials.

During this study, researchers evaluated patient ancestry using established genetic variations rather than individual self-report. White children were defined as those with at least 95% European genetic ancestry (n=978), whereas Hispanic children were defined as those with at least 10% Native American ancestry (n=330). To determine ARID5B variants related to ALL, researchers then compared the gene against those without ALL (white=1,046; Hispanic=541).

According to the study, although high-risk versions of ARID5B were found in both white and Hispanic patients, Hispanic children were 1.5 to two times as likely to inherit the variant as their white counterparts. Researchers also found evidence linking ARID5B variants to a heightened relapse risk and to poorer treatment outcomes in 1,605 pediatric ALL patients enrolled in the COG studies. Patients who inherited a high-risk version of ARID5B were 50% more likely to relapse than other patients and were more likely to die of their cancer.

“For years, we have known about ethnic and racial disparities in ALL risk and outcome, but the biology behind it has been elusive,” researcher Jun Yang, PhD, said in a press release. “Therefore, it is truly exciting to be able to not only pin down the biological basis but to find that the same gene might be responsible for both differences. Children who inherit high-risk versions of ARID5B are more likely to develop ALL in the first place and then more likely to fail therapy.”

Disclosure: The researchers reported consulting and employment support from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Sigma Tau Pharmaceuticals.

Follow HemOncToday.com on Twitter.