MY LIFE Matters - Winter 2023/2024 - 8

Stories of Hope THE POWER OF SCIENCE
ILLUMINATING DISPARITIES
IN ESBC GENOMIC TESTING
Recent studies have cast a spotlight on the
stark disparities in ESBC genomic testing.
Black women, regrettably, have found
themselves significantly underrepresented
in clinical trials, leading to a lack of data
on the effectiveness of specific treatments
tailored to their community.
Accurately defining a woman's tumor
HOPE
A JOURNEY TO INCLUSIVE BREAST CANCER
CARE THROUGH FAITH, SCIENCE, AND
PERSONALIZED TESTING
ERICA PENTAK, PATIENT ADVOCATE, AGENDIA
I
8
n the journey of faith and medicine, where hope and science intertwine, there's a
pressing need to ensure that every woman, regardless of her background, receives the
right breast cancer care. Specifically, in Early Stage Breast Cancer (ESBC) genomic
testing, we aim to address disparities and make testing more inclusive. Not only is
there a vital need to address the disparities, but there is also an urgency to advocate
for proper testing for yourself today.
As professionals within the oncology community, it's our obligation at Agendia to
not only advance breast cancer research but to loudly promote critical discoveries so
that women are equipped with the latest information and feel empowered to advocate
for themselves. We must have faith in the power of shared knowledge and the impact
it can have on a woman's breast cancer journey.
MY LIFE MATTERS
FAITH OVER FEAR | WINTER 2023-2024
and its risk of recurrence at the earliest
stage possible in her breast cancer journey
is critical to optimizing treatment. But, as
surgical oncologist Nathalie McDowell
Johnson, MD, FACS, explained in her poignant
article, " Estrogen Receptor-Positive
Breast Cancer Genomic Test: Risks for
Black Women, " for STAT News, not only
are Black women's tumors often misclassified,
but their risk is also underestimated
over 60 percent of the time.
The reality is that comprehensive genomic
testing and treatment options for
Black ESBC patients is immensely lacking,
and that's simply unacceptable. Despite
advancements in oncology and the widespread
use of genomic testing, pathology,
and the 21-gene genomic test most used
by health systems, Oncotype DX, often
do not account for the impact a woman's
race can have on the underlying biology
of her tumor. This is further illustrated
through research.
In fact, it was discovered that 62 percent
of Black women with breast cancer
who received a low recurrence score from
Oncotype DX were found to be high risk
with MammaPrint®.1
(MammaPrint is
Agendia's 70-gene assay that can predict
a tumor's potential for metastasis and
likelihood of therapy benefit as shown
in their landmark trial MINDACT trial.)
Additionally, two separate Oncotype DX
studies found that Black women had worse
clinical outcomes despite having similar
Oncotype DX scores as white women.
Among women with similar scores, Black
women were more likely than white women
to die of breast cancer, according to the
results published in a January 2021 JAMA
Oncology article.2, 3
Given these findings, which also
confirmed Oncotype DX underestimated
risk in Black women in a large populationbased
cohort reflecting real-world practice,
we echo Dr. Johnson's sentiment that
https://www.statnews.com/2023/09/19/estrogen-receptor-positive-breast-cancer-genomic-test-black-women-risks/ https://agendia.com/
MY LIFE Matters - Winter 2023/2024

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