# Project 1: Discovery of novel tumor-tissue based predictors of lethal colorectal cancer by race/ethnicity

> **NIH NIH P20** · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER · 2021 · $119,285

## Abstract

Project summary/abstract
While improvements in colorectal cancer (CRC) outcomes have been made over the past several decades,
pronounced disparities in CRC incidence and mortality rates by race/ethnicity persist in the United States. In
particular, CRC incidence and mortality rates among Alaska Native people (a particularly understudied
population) are 124% and 148% higher, respectively, compared to the overall national rates, and among
African Americans they are 21% and 39% higher, respectively. Our primary overarching goal is to reduce
disparities in CRC mortality, particularly those experienced by Alaska Natives and African Americans, through
improving approaches to identify patients with aggressive CRC at diagnosis and discovering novel potential
therapeutic targets relevant to these populations. To address this goal, we will conduct a nested case-control
study that utilizes highly clinically annotated tumor tissue specimens that are readily available from several
resources. Cases are CRC patients who died of CRC within 5 years of their diagnosis, and controls are
matched CRC patients who survived at least as long as the duration between diagnosis and death of the case
that they are matched to. We will include four groups of patients defined by race/ethnicity: Alaska Native
people, African Americans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites with 70 cases of lethal CRC and 140 CRC
controls from each group (total n=840). To discover novel prognostic markers, we will perform RNAseq
analyses on RNA extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tumor material. The specific aims of this
proposal are as follows: 1. Assess differences in gene expression profiles across four racial/ethnic groups and
their relationships to selected CRC risk factors; 2. Discover predictors of CRC mortality across and within four
different racial/ethnic groups; and 3. Characterize and evaluate differences in the immune and stromal cell
populations in the tumor microenvironment associated with CRC mortality, overall and by race/ethnicity. This
study will generate novel multi-ethnic high-dimensional data that we envision feeding into larger studies with
translational goals focused on advancing novel intervention targets for primary and secondary prevention, and
developing clinically useful predictors of poor CRC outcomes that can be used to guide clinical decision
making. This study is designed to generate findings that will be of particular benefit to underserved populations
as this work is aimed directly at reducing long-standing racial/ethnic disparities in CRC outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10244963
- **Project number:** 5P20CA252733-02
- **Recipient organization:** FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Christopher I Li
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $119,285
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10244963

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10244963, Project 1: Discovery of novel tumor-tissue based predictors of lethal colorectal cancer by race/ethnicity (5P20CA252733-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10244963. Licensed CC0.

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