Race

The issue with the lack of research among certain groups is not only limited the age of women at risk. Race is an issue in all clinical trials, but has been brought to the attention of scientists involved in the clinical trials for breast cancer prevention. The BCPT and STAR clinical trials attempted to incorporate acceptable representation of ethnic minorities, but failed to obtain an adequate amount that was proportiaonal to the minority representation in the North American population of women at risk. 3.6% of participants in the BCPT trial self-identified as an ethnic minority, primarily African-American, while 6% of the participants in the STAR trial self-identified as an ethnic minority, including African-Americans and Hispanics.

 Race does seem to be an important factor when physicians are determine what type of treatment to prescribe to patients. Yes, we all have similar patterns in our genome, but the slight differences make a huge impact on our ability to metabolize certain drugs. According to a fairly recent study, variations in the gene that codes for the enzyme responsible for the metabolism of tamoxifen are correlated with ones race. Mutant CYP2D6 allele variations are 12-23% common among Caucasions, 1.2-7% are common among African-Americans and 0-2.8% are common among Asians. These CYP2D6 variants were not the same in every group, some variants did not cause any adverse clinical outcomes while others elevated the risk of disease relapse, but lowered incidence of menopause-like symptoms.

 The connection between race and the human genome must be researched extensively before erroneous claims are made solely based on how people self-identify themselves. Self-identification of and within itself is another issue that is not based on factual evidence as it can easily be derailed.

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