Dr. Burnham on Closing the Gap in Health Disparities in Prostate Cancer

Leanne Burnham, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, Division of Health Equities, City of Hope, discusses the need to close the gap in health disparities, in prostate cancer.

Health disparities are an ongoing problem in the United States, but more clinical trials ​are being designed to increase diversity in patient populations, Burnham says. At City of Hope, the PARP inhibitor talazoparib (Talzenna) is being evaluated in an ongoing trial specifically in African American, European American, and Asian American men with prostate cancer, Burnham explains.

The goal of the study is to observe any clinically meaningful differences between how these patient subgroups respond to talazoparib based on androgen receptor trinucleotide repeats, Burnham continues. It is understood that ancestry determines how long these repeat links are, Burnham says. Additionally, an inverse correlation between androgen receptor, trinucleotide repeats, and prostate cancer outcomes has been observed, Burnham adds. By looking at talazoparib, the results of the study may yield insight into how to use diversity in a clinical trial in real time, Burnham concludes.