Although breast cancer is more common among Caucasian women than among African-American women, African-Americans are more likely to be diagnosed before age 40, and to have more aggressive disease. The reasons for these differences in breast cancer are largely unknown.

We are conducting a large, multi-center case-control study of breast cancer in metropolitan New York and eastern New Jersey, in collaboration with colleagues at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

This ongoing study will enroll 1200 African-American and 1200 Caucasian women with breast cancer, and an equal number of healthy controls, conducting in-person interviews regarding potential breast cancer risk factors. A biospecimen for genotyping of DNA is also collected. By evaluating risk factors (both exposures and genetics) in relation to early onset, aggressive breast cancer, this study will likely reveal some of the reasons for this aggressive form of breast cancer among African-American women.