David Schiller
Research Mentor: Bradley Zebrack
Mentor Department: Social Work, Social Work
Author(s): Not Available
Session: Session 6 (3:00 PM – 3:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 4
Abstract
Despite current research about social genomics, defined as the ways that social experience impacts gene expression, adolescents and young adults (AYA) age groups remain an understudied cohort. More importantly for cancer research, the AYA group has unique challenges that both affect and are affected by their cancer outcomes. Our study is designed as a single cohort, longitudinal study, which follows AYA blood cancer survivors (both Hodgkins and Non-Hodgkins) for two years, between the ages of 18-39 years old, within 3 years following completion of therapy. Participants are recruited by utilizing the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), a clinical trials network of more than 1,000 cancer centers across the US, and study participants receive $20 at each data collection time point. Every six months, a series of standardized surveys assessing potential social environmental risk factors and individual resilience factors– poverty status, social isolation, exposures to childhood trauma, experiences of discrimination, and social support. At the same time, participants received a blood draw for purposes of RNA sequencing to observe expression of the CTRA gene pathway, a pathway which has been shown to decrease antiviral responses in the body, in response to environmental factors. Within the past few months, study accrual has closed, with a n=393 AYA cancer survivors. We anticipate examination of the effects of social environment risk and resilience factors on participants’ quality of life at baseline to begin within the year. Similarly participants area deprivation index scores have been mapped, in order to describe study population. The results of this study will be important in determining how vulnerable populations express CTRA genes, and how it affects their cancer outcomes. Likewise, this study hopes to link individual resilience factors to positive cancer outcomes and lower CTRA gene expression.
