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Reducing racial disparities in lung cancer outcomes by decoding neighborhood contextual environment (RECODE)

Award Number: R01MD014839
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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Reducing racial disparities in lung cancer outcomes by decoding neighborhood contextual environment (RECODE) - ABSTRACT This application proposes to examine a novel social epigenetic mechanism for racial inequality in lung cancer: Reducing racial disparities in lung cancer outcomes by decoding neighborhood contextual environment (RECODE). We will examine the relationships between exposure to violence, inflammatory responses, smoking and epigenetic changes in protein arginine methyl transferases (PRMT6) that increase the risk of developing lung cancer. Our preliminary studies demonstrated that smoking induces increased expression of PRMT6 in the lung epithelium. We also showed that overexpression of PRMT6 triggers spontaneous lung tumors in mice. Interestingly, we found that PRMT6 is upregulated among black men compared with white men in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Thus we argue that the increased overexpression of PRMT6 among black men may explain a higher rate of lung cancer among black men compared with white men. While smoking is a key contributing factor for lung cancer, the frequency and amount of cigarette smoking are not necessarily higher for blacks, which suggests that other factors are responsible for racial disparity in lung cancer. Disproportionate social stress in black communities may be responsible for a higher rate of lung cancer among blacks. In particular, individuals living in excessive neighborhood violence are exposed to chronic stress, which may intensify the epigenetic changes for lung cancer. We hypothesize that exposure to neighborhood violence is social stress that increases biophysical inflammatory responses, which exacerbate the path between smoking, PRMT6 overexpression, and lung cancer. To examine the proposed social epigenetic mechanism of lung cancer disparity, first, we will test the independent effect of smoking and exposure to neighborhood violence, and the interaction of the two risks on PRMT6 expression using retrospective tissue samples from black and white lung cancer cases (Aim 2). Second, we will test the effect of exposure to violence on an inflammatory response (hair cortisol) and lung cancer screening outcomes by conducting a prospective survey and data collection with high-risk black men (Aim 3). Finally, we will build a multilevel, context-specific lung cancer risk profiles (Aim 1) that take into account not only individual behavioral risk (smoking), but neighborhood stress (exposure to violence), physiological inflammatory responses (increased cortisol), and molecular changes (PRMT6 overexpression). To develop such risk profiles, we utilize a composite population data approach to establish accurate counts of all individuals within census tracts with sociodemographic, behavioral, and neighborhood risk profiles. The strength of RECODE is its innovative approach to unveil a social epigenetic mechanism of lung cancer disparity. RECODE has the potential to transform understanding multilevel risks of lung cancer and improve the national lung cancer screening guidelines to reflect the social conditions of racial minority communities.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $599,918 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD AVE M/C 551	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	5	4/24/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$59,991
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD AVE M/C 551	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	5	12/19/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$539,927
														Subtotal = $599,918

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $603,011 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD AVE M/C 551	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	4	1/23/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$559,494
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD AVE M/C 551	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	4	5/29/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$43,517
														Subtotal = $603,011

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $643,905 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD AVE M/C 551	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	002	3	5/23/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD RM 520	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	3	12/30/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$579,515
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD RM 520	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	3	2/13/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$64,390
														Subtotal = $643,905

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $655,852 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD RM 520	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	002	2	5/4/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD RM 520	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	2	1/28/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$590,267
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD RM 520	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	2	4/29/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$65,585
														Subtotal = $655,852

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $668,574 )
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS	809 S MARSHFIELD RM 520	CHICAGO	IL	60612	COOK	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	1	5/6/2021	NEW	$668,574
														Subtotal = $668,574

Grand Total All Awards = $3,171,260

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Reducing racial disparities in lung cancer outcomes by decoding neighborhood contextual environment (RECODE)

Award Number: R01MD014839

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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