Developmental Exposures, Stem Cell Reprogramming, and Breast Cancer Disparties
ABSTRACT The overall goal of this project is to define how interactions between breast stem cells and environmental stressors drive the biological basis of racial disparities in triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs). TNBC incidence in African American women is two to three-fold higher than in European Americans. The biological mechanisms underlying this striking disparity are not well understood. Our preliminary data identifies widespread racial disparities in exposure to a multitude of environmental toxicants including phthalates and parabens. The breast cancer windows of susceptibility hypothesis states that environmental exposures in utero, or during puberty and pregnancy, disproportionately increase breast cancer risk. Exposures during windows of susceptibility could modify risk by the increasing the number of stem cells, altering stem cell epigenetic reprogramming, or by otherwise changing stem cell biology. Using single cell RNA expression profiling, we have identified a rare br