Novel Analytical Models Relating Genetic Ancestry to Cancer Risk in Large Panel Sequencing Datasets
Ancestry can be a risk factor for certain cancer types. For example, nearly 50% of lung adenocarcinomas in East Asian, never smoking patients carry EGFR mutations compared to just 15% in their Caucasian counterparts. However, genome-wide characterization of the relationship between somatic recurrence and genetic ancestry has been lacking. We aim to leverage large, panel sequencing datasets to investigate this relationship. Understanding the differential frequency of somatic mutations for cancer patients with different ancestral background and distinguishing genetic versus environmental/socioeconomic contributions to cancer is critical for patient care improvement, clinical trial enrollment, personalized treatment and disparity studies.