# Role of obesity as a causative factor of breast cancer in women of African American ethnicity

> **NIH NIH U54** · TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $365,447

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Breast cancer (BC) is not only a heterogenous disease by itself but it also has a differential racial impact.
Prognostically, it has an inferior outcome in women of African American (AA) descent as compared to European
American. BC in women of African ancestry presents at a younger age and is associated with more advanced
disease and higher mortality rates as compared to breast cancer in age-matched patients of EA or Asian ancestry
(AsA). Several factors, including ethnicity and social determinants of health factors (SDOH), including obesity
adds to the complexity to nature of the disease. The chronicity of these environmental stressors has played a
determinate role in racial/ethnic BC inequities. We propose to investigate the intersection of SDOH and biological
determinants of tumor biology by examining the convergence of obesity- and ancestry-related inflammatory
factors and their consequences on tumor genomic and immunological landscapes. In this project, the association
of the obesity-associated inflammatory signature for those with African ancestry in admixed-African BC patients
in Black Belt Alabama will be explored. We will determine genetic ancestry-associated differences in tumor
immune microenvironments linked to systemic inflammation and obesity. To do so, we have adopted the
Tuskegee Total Cancer Care protocol, which partners with local health care providers and patients with the goals
of using longitudinally collected data and biospecimens to develop an evidence-based approach that meets the
needs of minority patients. We will work through three distinct specific aims, utilizing case-control studies, which
will flow hierarchically from broad patient-centered population-level factors to systemic-and genomic-level factors
to characteristics tumors and heterogeneous cell types within the tumor. These will help define distinct risk factors
that capture both the social and biological mechanisms that underlie tumor phenotypes. Integration of these data
will provide new opportunities to develop interventions that, on a community level, will help to overcome immune
and inflammation-driven/obesity-related BC progression

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10933026
- **Project number:** 5U54MD007585-33
- **Recipient organization:** TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Deepa Bedi
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $365,447
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-07-07 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10933026

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10933026, Role of obesity as a causative factor of breast cancer in women of African American ethnicity (5U54MD007585-33). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10933026. Licensed CC0.

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