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ObjectiveOvarian cancer in Black women is common in many West African countries but is relatively rare in North America. Black women have worse survival outcomes when compared to White women. Ovarian cancer histotype, diagnosis, and age at presentation are known prognostic factors for outcome. We sought to conduct a preliminary comparative assessment of these factors across the African diaspora.MethodsPatients diagnosed with ovarian cancer (all histologies) between June 2016-December 2019 in Departments of Pathology at 25 participating sites in Nigeria were identified. Comparative population-based data, inclusive of Caribbean-born Blacks (CBB) and US-born Blacks (USB), were additionally captured from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and Florida Cancer Data Systems. Histology, country of birth, and age at diagnosis data were collected and evaluated across the three subgroups: USB, CBB and Nigerians. Statistical analyses were done using chi-square and student’s t-test with significance set at p

BackgroundHeart transplant is the gold standard therapy for patients with advanced heart failure. Over 5,500 heart transplants are performed every year worldwide. Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a common complication post-heart transplant which reduces survival and often necessitates heart retransplantation. Post-transplant follow-up requires serial coronary angiography and endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) for CAV and allograft rejection screening, respectively; both of which are invasive procedures. This study aims to determine whether osteopontin (OPN) protein, a fibrosis marker often present in chronic heart disease, represents a novel biomarker for CAV.MethodsExpression of OPN was analyzed in cardiac tissue obtained from patients undergoing heart retransplantation using immunofluorescence imaging (n = 20). Tissues from native explanted hearts and three serial follow-up EMB samples of transplanted hearts were also analyzed in five of these patients.ResultsFifteen out of 20 patients undergoing retransplantation had CAV. 13/15 patients with CAV expressed nuclear OPN. 5/5 patients with multiple tissue samples expressed nuclear OPN in both 1st and 2nd explanted hearts, while 0/5 expressed nuclear OPN in any of the follow-up EMBs. 4/5 of these patients had an initial diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).ConclusionNuclear localization of OPN in cardiomyocytes of patients with CAV was evident at the time of cardiac retransplant as well as in patients with DCM at the time of the 1st transplant. The results implicate nuclear OPN as a novel biomarker for severe CAV and DCM.

Background: Caribbean immigrants represent one of the largest groups of minorities in the United States (US), yet are understudied. Racial and ethnic disparities among women with ovarian cancer have been reported, but not in immigrant populations. Our objective was to evaluate differences in the clinicopathologic features and survival outcomes of Caribbean-born (CB) immigrants with ovarian cancer, with special focus on the influence of race and ethnicity on these measures.Methods: A review of the institutional cancer registry was performed to identify women with known nativity treated for epithelial ovarian cancer between 2005 and 2017. Sociodemographic, clinical, and outcomes data were collected. Analyses were done using chi-square, Cox proportional hazards models, and the Kaplan-Meier method, with significance set at p < 0.05.Results: 529 women were included in the analysis, 248 CB and 281 US-born (USB). CB women were more likely to have residual disease after debulking surgery (31.2 vs. 16.8%, p = 0.009) and be treated at a public facility (62.5 vs. 33.5%, p < 0.001). Black CB women less frequently received chemotherapy compared to White CB women (55.2 vs. 82.2%, p = 0.001). Among all CB women, Hispanic ethnicity was independently associated with improved survival when adjusting for other factors (HR 0.61 [95% CI 0.39–0.95], p = 0.03). White Hispanic CB women had a median overall survival (OS) of 59 months while Black, non-Hispanic CB women had a median OS of 24 months (log-rank p = 0.04).Conclusion: Among Caribbean-born women with ovarian cancer, Hispanic ethnicity is significantly associated with improved survival outcomes, regardless of race.