{"id":46201,"date":"2023-10-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/news-events\/cancer-currents-blog\/2023\/colorectal-cancer-enlace-hispanic-latino"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:12:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:12:22","slug":"enlace-study-explores-colorectal-cancer-in-hispanic-and-latino-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/enlace-study-explores-colorectal-cancer-in-hispanic-and-latino-people\/","title":{"rendered":"ENLACE Study Explores Colorectal Cancer in Hispanic and Latino People"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Adan Reinosa has been living with metastatic colorectal cancer for more than a decade. Mr. Reinosa, who was the first participant in the ENLACE study, stays active by rebuilding classic cars.<\/p>\n

Credit: Used with permission from Adan Reinosa<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among people of Hispanic and Latino descent in the United States. Adan Reinosa Rivera, a retired electrical engineer in Los Angeles, is doing his part to change that.<\/p>\n

Mr. Reinosa has been living with metastatic<\/a> colorectal cancer for more than a decade. The cancer was detected in his lungs a few months after a tumor was removed from his colon. He\u2019s been managing the disease with his doctor ever since. <\/p>\n

Now, as the first participant in a genetic study called ENLACE<\/a>, Mr. Reinosa is helping to build a body of knowledge about the molecular features of colorectal cancers in Hispanic and Latino people.<\/p>\n

The study, supported by the Cancer MoonshotSM<\/sup><\/a>, aims to learn more about the disease in people of Hispanic and Latino descent, with the ultimate goal of improving treatments for this population group. And to achieve this aim, investigators are also testing ways to engage more people from this group in cancer research.<\/p>\n

Mr. Reinosa, who is 65 years old and restores classic sports cars in his free time, is helping with both goals. He has provided blood and tumor samples for analysis with genomic tools such as DNA<\/a> sequencers. And he is part of the study\u2019s patient advisory panel, which is developing ideas about how to engage potential participants and improve the research experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope my feedback will help the study better serve other people in our community,\u201d Mr. Reinosa said. <\/p>\n

Genetic counselors help participants understand their test results<\/h2>\n

ENLACE is the first study to use cutting-edge technologies to describe the molecular features of colorectal tumors in Hispanic and Latino people. Researchers plan to enroll 500 participants with all forms of colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n

Tumor samples and blood from these participants will be analyzed for genetic changes linked to colorectal cancer, both those that arose during the development of the cancer as well as those that were inherited<\/a> from a parent. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting is that we are doing genetic testing<\/a> in a patient population that would not have had the testing outside of this study,\u201d said Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, who is co-leading the research. <\/p>\n

Dr. Lenz said he has already identified genetic mutations<\/a> in the tumors of some participants and has used that information to help guide treatment decisions. <\/p>\n

The ENLACE team includes bilingual genetic counselors who are trained in culturally sensitive<\/p>\n

ways of communicating genetic information. They meet with participants before testing to explain in accessible language how genetic testing for colorectal cancer works. <\/p>\n

The genetic counselors also help participants understand their test results. For example, if a participant were found to have an inherited genetic mutation linked to cancer, a counselor could explain how the finding would affect cancer screening and prevention for the participant and the person\u2019s family in the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want our patients to understand what these tests mean for themselves and their care,\u201d said study co-leader Mariana C. Stern, Ph.D., also of the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. \u201cWe also want to empower patients to ask questions of their health care providers.\u201d <\/p>\n

The researchers are also asking participants about aspects of their lifestyles and diets that may contribute to the risk of colorectal cancer. Other questions focus on social, economic, and physical factors that can affect a person\u2019s health and well-being, such as where the person was born and where they are currently living. Such factors are known as social determinants of health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rising rates of early-onset colorectal cancer<\/h2>\n

Diagnoses of colorectal cancer in adults under age 50 have been increasing around the world<\/a>, particularly in high-income countries. In the United States, the incidence<\/a> of such early-onset tumors has risen more rapidly in Hispanic and Latino people than in those of any other racial and ethnic groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really do not understand why there has been a steep increase in early-onset colorectal cancer among Hispanics,\u201d Dr. Lenz said.<\/p>\n

To address this gap in knowledge, he teamed up with John Carpten, Ph.D., who was then chair of translational genomics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. With Cancer Moonshot funding, they launched the Center for Optimization of Participant Engagement for Cancer Characterization, which includes ENLACE.<\/p>\n

Their hope is that the study could also help reveal some clues about the rising incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer. \u201cExpanding the participation of Hispanics and Latinos with colorectal cancer in genomic research is critical for making progress against the disease,\u201d Dr. Lenz said.<\/p>\n

A national network for improving participant engagement <\/h2>\n

The USC participant engagement center is one of five such centers in the Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS) Network<\/a>. Each is investigating understudied cancers or populations of patients (see sidebar).<\/p>\n

The centers all have two main aims: to promote and support the engagement of participants in cancer research, and to learn more about the biology of understudied cancers in diverse populations.<\/p>\n