Basic Mechanisms in Cancer Health Disparities – BMCD

Topics

• Mechanisms associated with genetics, epigenetics and environmental factors that drive cancer susceptibility differences among different racial/ethnic populations.
• Mechanisms involving causal drivers of tumorigenesis including chromosomal instabilities; among racial/ethnic populations.
• Genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of mechanisms driving tumorigenesis in different racial/ethnic groups.
• Mechanisms driving differences in cancer metabolism, tumor microenvironment, immune response and signal transduction pathways that impact cancer susceptibility or response to therapy among racial/ethnic populations.
• Mechanistic role of co-morbidities (e.g. obesity, diabetes, chronic infections or microbial dysbiosis) in cancer health disparities.
• New animal, organoid and cell culture models/systems designed to investigate mechanisms in cancer disparities.

Shared Interests

There are shared interests with Cancer Etiology (CE) on causal drivers, agents and processes involved in tumorigenesis. Applications focused on genetic and epigenetic aspects of genomic instability, DNA damage and repair, environmental agents and toxins that may lead to disparate tumor initiation, progression and response in different racial/ethnic groups may be reviewed in BMCD. Applications that are not addressing the above mechanisms in different racial/ethnic groups may be assigned to CE.

There are shared interests with Cancer Genetics (CG) in cancer drivers, genomic instability and genomics. Applications that do not propose studies involving different racial or ethnic groups or do not focus on health disparities will be reviewed in CG. Applications that propose identification and characterization of target genes involved in tumor pathogenesis or genomic mechanisms that may lead to health disparities in different racial/ethnic groups may be reviewed in BMCD.

There are shared interests with study sections in the Cancer Diagnosis Prevention & Therapeutics (CDPT) review branch in response to immunotherapy. Applications that are focused on general mechanisms of immune therapy will be reviewed in CDPT. Applications addressing differential response to immunotherapy in different racial/ethnic groups will be reviewed in BMCD.

There are shared interests with Cancer Therapeutics (CTH) review branch in cancer therapeutic mechanisms. Applications focused on general therapeutic mechanisms and resistance to therapy will be reviewed in CTH. Applications addressing the disparate response of different racial/ethnic groups to anti-neoplastic agents and mechanisms of resistance will be reviewed in BMCD.

There are shared interests with Molecular Cancer Diagnosis and Classification (MCDC) in strategies for discovering novel biomarkers (DNA, RNA, protein, lipid, metabolites) associated with cancer risk assessment. Applications that are focused on discovery, development and small-scale validation of prognostic markers of cancer progression, recurrence, and response of therapy without an emphasis on disparities will be assigned to MCDC. Applications focused on biomarkers for identifying health disparities in different racial/ethnic groups may be reviewed in BMCD.

There are shared interests with Cancer Prevention Study Section (CPSS) related to microbiome, obesity and metabolomics in cancer prevention. Applications focused on understanding obesity-associated cancer risks and developing preventive approaches to stop, or delay initiation and/or progression of obesity-related cancers may be reviewed in CPSS. Applications focused on basic mechanisms involved in disparities in cancer development related to obesity and/or microbiomes in different racial/ethnic groups may be reviewed in BMCD.

There are shared interests with Cancer and Hematologic Disorders (CAHD) in ethnic and racial disparities in cancer outcomes. Applications using a human population-based or correlative approach to characterizing behavioral, social, environmental, or genetic/epigenetic factors contributing to racial/ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes may be reviewed in CHD. Applications focused on identifying basic biological mechanisms underlying racial/ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes in both animal models and human studies will be reviewed in BMCD.

There are shared interests with Healthcare and Health Disparities (HHD) in how ethnic and racial disparities affect cancer outcomes. Applications examining the systemic underpinnings of health care disparities and how social determinants of health related to access, use of and effectiveness of health services and health promotion at the health systems level are reviewed in HHD. Applications focused on mechanistic studies of biological or environmental factors associated with cancer health disparities are reviewed in BMCD.