AACR 2022 | Racial disparities in clinical outcomes for patients with colorectal cancer

Among patients with colorectal cancer, non-hispanic black patients often have worse clinical outcomes than non-hispanic white patients. Francisco Sanchez-Vega, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York, NY, discusses possible causes of this disparity, including environmental exposures, access to healthcare, and genetics. Large number of patients from MSKCC have undergone genetic sequencing as part of their treatment, so researchers used this data to compare genomic and clinical features of non-hispanic black patients and non-hispanic white patients. Although genetic differences between these two patient groups were found to be associated with certain clinical features and outcomes, they do not fully account for the significant differences in survival outcomes. This interview took place at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.