Race, Genes, and Breast Cancer

An explanation for “health disparities” – it’s all in the genes.

So, the System “take” is that “race is a social construct with no biological validity” and that “racial (presumably ‘social race?’) differences in health outcomes are all due to ‘White racism.”  What then to make of this, emphasis added:

PURPOSE:

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is most prevalent in young women of African ancestry (WAA) compared to women of other ethnicities. Recent studies found a correlation between high expression of the transcription factor Kaiso, TNBC aggressiveness, and ethnicity. However, little is known about Kaiso expression and localization patterns in TNBC tissues of WAA. Herein, we analyze Kaiso expression patterns in TNBC tissues of African (Nigerian), Caribbean (Barbados), African American (AA), and Caucasian American (CA) women.

METHODS:

Formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) TNBC tissue blocks from Nigeria and Barbados were utilized to construct a Nigerian/Barbadian tissue microarray (NB-TMA). This NB-TMA and a commercially available TMA comprising AA and CA TNBC tissues (AA-CA-YTMA) were subjected to immunohistochemistry to assess Kaiso expression and subcellular localization patterns, and correlate Kaiso expression with TNBC clinical features.

RESULTS:

Nigerian and Barbadian women in our study were diagnosed with TNBC at a younger age than AA and CA women. Nuclear and cytoplasmic Kaiso expression was observed in all tissues analyzed. Analysis of Kaiso expression in the NB-TMA and AA-CA-YTMA revealed that nuclear Kaiso H scores were significantly higher in Nigerian, Barbadian, and AA women compared with CA women. However, there was no statistically significant difference in nuclear Kaiso expression between Nigerian versus Barbadian women, or Barbadian versus AA women.

CONCLUSIONS:

High levels of nuclear Kaiso expression were detected in patients with a higher degree of African heritage compared to their Caucasian counterparts, suggesting a role for Kaiso in TNBC racial disparity.

Reality: Race is real, biologically relevant, and is reflected in important genetic differences that affect health outcomes.  The thing about reality is that it doesn’t change just because of hysterical SJW screeching. It is what it is.

Footnote: One wonders if the age differences in TNBC diagnoses comparing Nigerian and Barbadian females to "African American" females is due to the degree of European admixture in the latter.  Note that a more harsh outcome is with the former group, despite that the latter group is, according to the SJWs, more subject to "racism."  Also note that nuclear Kaiso expression is obviously not the whole story as there was no difference between the different Negro groups for that metric, while age of diagnoses did differ. One possibility is that Kaiso does contribute to greater Negro propensity to TNBC, but that the AA group is partially protected (as I suggest above) by  a degree of White genetic admixture.