Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Publication Date

7-10-2025

Journal

Human Genetics and Genomics Advances

DOI

10.1016/j.xhgg.2025.100466

PMID

40495382

PMCID

PMC12256324

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

6-9-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Emerging evidence suggests genetic ancestry may influence childhood cancer outcomes, but its impact on pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is unknown. We explored genetic ancestry's impact on survival among children with RMS. This multi-center observational cohort study is a secondary analysis of previously collected biobanking, genomic, and clinical data. The study included 920 individuals with newly diagnosed RMS under 40 years of age enrolled from 2005 to 2017 under the COG soft tissue sarcoma biobanking protocol D9902. The primary endpoints were (1) event-free survival (EFS), defined as the time from study enrollment to tumor recurrence/progression, secondary malignancy, or death from any cause; and (2) overall survival (OS), defined as the time from study enrollment to death from any cause. Genetic ancestry was estimated using Grafpop software, and Cox regression assessed the association between genetic ancestry and EFS and OS, considering RMS overall, by fusion status, and by histological subtype. Covariates included sex, age at diagnosis, tumor stage, and histology, except during stratified analyses. In embryonal RMS and PAX3/7:FOXO1 fusion-negative RMS, individuals with South Asian or Asian-Pacific Islander ancestry showed worse EFS (hazard ratio [HR] 2.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07-3.97, p = 0.03 and HR 2.01, 95% CI 1.07-3.76, p = 0.03, respectively) and OS (HR 2.30, 95% CI 1.09-4.84, p = 0.03 and HR 2.33, 95% CI 1.15-4.70, p = 0.020, respectively) compared to those with primarily European genetic ancestry. These findings suggest that genetic ancestry influences survival outcomes within RMS subtypes, and further understanding may improve precision-medicine-based efforts.

Keywords

Humans, Child, Female, Male, Child, Preschool, Adolescent, Infant, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Young Adult, Prognosis, rhabdomyosarcoma, health disparities, survival outcomes, South Asian/Asian-Pacific Islander, genetic ancestry

Published Open-Access

yes

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.