Abstract A035: Protein quantitative trait loci analysis in diverse prostate cancer patients: A focus on angiogenesis

Abstract Prostate cancer exhibits notable disparities in mortality rates between African American (AA) and European American (EA) populations, with genetic ancestry and the social environment influencing both disease risk and lethality. Angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessel formation, plays a critical role in tumor progression and metastasis. However, the germline genetic contribution to the physiological variation in levels of circulating angiogenic markers, and the angiogenic process, is largely unknown. This study aims to explore the genetic underpinnings of angiogenesis in prostate cancer patients through a protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) analysis. We analyzed 30 blood-based angiogenesis-related immuno-oncology markers in a cohort of 2,437 men from Ghana and the United States, comprising 1,330 controls and 1,107 prostate cancer cases. A comprehensive evaluation of 4,301,332 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was conducted to investigate their associations with these markers across 3 population groups (Ghanaian, African American, and European American men). In this genome-wide pQTL we identified loci that associated with the levels of 13 markers (p <1.2 x 10-9). Our findings reveal that germline genetic variants may contribute to the variability in circulating angiogenic marker levels, or the systemic angiogenesis-inducing potential, with specific loci showing population-specific associations. We further link these circulating angiogenic markers to prostate cancer disease characteristics. Thus, our results suggest that germline genetic factors influence circulating levels of circulating angiogenesis-related proteins and thereby systemic angiogenesis, with a relationship to prostate cancer. Citation Format: Ashlie Santaliz Casiano, Hunter Schaumloffel, Huaitian Liu, Brittany Jenkins-Lord, Tsion Minas, Tiffany Dorsey, Stefan Ambs. Protein quantitative trait loci analysis in diverse prostate cancer patients: A focus on angiogenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A035.