HER2 is a well-known driver of worse outcomes for many types of cancer, including prostate cancer. While HER2 has been previously evaluated in prostate cancer bench studies and clinical trials, there has been a lack of diversity in the experimental designs and protocols. For this reason, it has only recently been reported that Black men with prostate cancer may have a higher prevalence of HER2 overexpression. To thoroughly address health inequities that exist for Black men with prostate cancer, it is critical to utilize diverse biospecimens and enroll diverse study participants into studies that evaluate genetic and molecular contributors to worse prognosis for high-risk populations. In this review, we reconsider the role of HER2 in prostate cancer with an approach that incorporates the effects of race and genetic ancestry.
Abstract:
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is a major driver of disease progression, treatment resistance, and worse survival for patients with various types of cancers, including prostate cancer. However, key bench studies and clinical trials have failed to evaluate the role of HER2 in prostate cancer using racially diverse experimental designs and protocols. This lack of diversity represents what has been the status quo of cancer research in the United States for decades. In the case of prostate cancer, homogenic study designs are problematic as Black men are much more likely to be diagnosed and die from aggressive and incurable forms of the disease. Therefore, the strategic inclusion of biospecimens collected from Black patients as well as the recruitment and enrollment of Black men into prostate cancer clinical trials is necessary to comprehensively evaluate genetic and molecular factors that contribute to variable outcomes in this high-risk population. Additionally, a higher prevalence of HER2 expression in Black men was recently reported in a small cohort of prostate cancer patients and may contribute to worsened prognosis. In this review, we carefully consider the role of HER2 in prostate cancer while, for the first time, taking into account the influences of race and genetic ancestry.
Nicole Mavingire,1 Janelle C. Moore,1 Jabril R. Johnson,2 Abdulrahman M. Dwead,1 Cheryl D. Cropp,3 Yehia Mechref,4 Firas Kobeissy,5 Soroush Rais-Bahrami,6,7,8 and Leanne Woods-Burnham,1
- Department of Surgery, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, & Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
- Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
- Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
- O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA