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Genetic Basis for Colorectal Cancer Disparities

  • Molecular Biology (S Anant, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Colorectal Cancer Reports

Abstract

African Americans suffer the highest burden from colorectal cancer (CRC) in the USA. Studies have suggested that healthcare access and poorer utilization of preventive services may be playing more of a role in this disparity. However, African Americans also tend to develop CRC at younger ages and are more likely to have proximal cancers. This raises the possibility of higher genetic predisposition to CRC among African Americans and this has not been well studied. In this article, we reviewed possible genetic basis underpinning biological differences in CRC burden in the USA.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20060, USA

    Rahul Nayani, Hassan Ashktorab & Adeyinka O. Laiyemo

  2. Department of Pathology, Howard University College of Medicine, 2041 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20060, USA

    Hassan Brim

Authors
  1. Rahul Nayani
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  2. Hassan Ashktorab
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  3. Hassan Brim
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  4. Adeyinka O. Laiyemo
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Correspondence to Adeyinka O. Laiyemo.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Grant Support

Dr Laiyemo is supported by grant awards from Charles and Mary Latham Funds and from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (KL2TR000102-04 and UL1RT000101) and from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R21DK100875), National Institutes of Health.

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This article is a review and does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors for the purpose of this manuscript.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Molecular Biology

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Nayani, R., Ashktorab, H., Brim, H. et al. Genetic Basis for Colorectal Cancer Disparities. Curr Colorectal Cancer Rep 11, 408–413 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11888-015-0302-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11888-015-0302-5

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