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Jackson F, Clinton C, Caldwell J. Core issues, case studies, and the need for expanded Legacy African American genomics. Front Genet 2023; 14:843209. [PMID: 37359364 PMCID: PMC10287052 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.843209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2021] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Genomic studies of Legacy African Americans have a tangled and convoluted history in western science. In this review paper, core issues affecting African American genomic studies are addressed and two case studies, the New York African Burial Ground and the Gullah Geechee peoples, are presented to highlight the current status of genomic research among Africa Americans. Methods: To investigate our target population's core issues, a metadatabase derived from 22 publicly accessible databases were reviewed, evaluated, and synthesized to identify the core bioethical issues prevalent during the centuries of the African American presence in North America. The sequence of metadatabase development included 5 steps: identification of information, record screening and retention of topic relevant information, identification of eligibility via synthesis for concept identifications, and inclusion of studies used for conceptual summaries and studies used for genetic and genomic summaries. To these data we added our emic perspectives and specific insights from our case studies. Results: Overall, there is a paucity of existing research on underrepresent African American genomic diversity. In every category of genomic testing (i.e., diagnostic, clinical predictive, pharmacogenomic, direct-to-consumer, and tumor testing), African Americans are disproportionately underrepresented compared to European Americans. The first of our case studies is from the New York African Burial Ground Project where genomic studies of grave soil derived aDNA yields insights into the causes of death of 17th and 18th Century African Americans. In the second of our case studies, research among the Gullah Geechee people of the Carolina Lowcountry reveals a connection between genomic studies and health disparities. Discussion: African Americans have historically borne the brunt of the earliest biomedical studies used to generate and refine primitive concepts in genetics. As exploited victims these investigations, African American men, women, and children were subjected to an ethics-free western science. Now that bioethical safeguards have been added, underrepresented and marginalized people who were once the convenient targets of western science, are now excluded from its health-related benefits. Recommendations to enhance the inclusion of African Americans in global genomic databases and clinical trials should include the following: emphasis on the connection of inclusion to advances in precision medicine, emphasis on the relevance of inclusion to fundamental questions in human evolutionary biology, emphasis on the historical relevance of inclusion for Legacy African Americans, emphasis on the ability of inclusion to foster expanded scientific expertise in the target population, ethical engagement with their descendants, and increase the number of science researchers from these communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatimah Jackson
- Department of Biology, Howard University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Carter Clinton
- Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States
| | - Jennifer Caldwell
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
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Lord BD, Martini RN, Davis MB. Understanding how genetic ancestry may influence cancer development. Trends Cancer 2022; 8:276-279. [PMID: 35027335 DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2021.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2021] [Revised: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Of the multifactorial determinants that lead to cancer health disparities among race groups, quantified genetic ancestry has begun to expand our knowledge beyond self-reported race. However, it is essential to study these biological determinants in the context of social determinants to truly improve clinical tools and achieve equitable survival outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brittany D Lord
- Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Rachel N Martini
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA
| | - Melissa B Davis
- Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Englander Institute of Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; New York Genome Center, New York, NY, USA; Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA.
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Blakey ML, Watkins R. William Montague Cobb: Near the African diasporic origins of activist and biocultural anthropology. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2021; 305:838-848. [PMID: 34761866 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
William Montague Cobb, AB, MD, PhD, was the first African American PhD in anatomy and physical anthropology. He produced 1,100 publications while a professor at Howard University. His influence on the civil rights struggle from the 1930s to 1970s was profound as were his contributions to science and medical history. This article shows how he continued the activist and interdisciplinary traditions of African diasporic intellectuals and that these innovated what is today labeled biocultural anthropology, which focuses on the political, economic, and other societal influences on human biology and health. The human biology of the White "mainstream" has tended toward reductionism, biodeterminism, and eugenics. It drew a causal arrow from biology to society. Had they been able to listen to Black intellectuals, the world might have avoided the tragedy of mid-20th century eugenics and its long continuing biodeterministic shadow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael L Blakey
- Department of Anthropology, Africana Studies, and American Studies, Institute for Historical Biology, William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
| | - Rachel Watkins
- Department of Anthropology, American University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
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Caldwell J, Jackson FLC. Evolutionary perspectives on African North American genetic diversity: Origins and prospects for future investigations. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:242-252. [PMID: 34388300 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Revised: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
African-descended peoples of the Americas represent an amalgamation of West, Central, and Southeast African regional and ethnic groups with modest gene flow from specific non-African populations. Despite 16+ generations of residence in the Americas, there is a deficit of evolutionary knowledge about these populations. Focusing on Legacy African American, the African North American descendants of survivors of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, we report on emic evolutionary perspectives of their self-identity gleaned from our interviews of 600 individuals collected over 2 years. Gullah-Geechee peoples of Carolina Coastal regions are a model case study due to their historical antiquity, substantial African retentions, relative geospatial isolation, and proposed progenitor status to other Legacy African American microethnic groups. We identify salient research questions for future studies that will begin to bridge the evolutionary gaps in our knowledge of these diverse peoples and the historical evidence for specific evolutionary processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Caldwell
- Genetics Department, Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Fatimah L C Jackson
- Biology Department, Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
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Jackson L, Kuhlman C, Jackson F, Fox PK. Including Vulnerable Populations in the Assessment of Data From Vulnerable Populations. Front Big Data 2019; 2:19. [PMID: 33693342 PMCID: PMC7931941 DOI: 10.3389/fdata.2019.00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Data science has made great strides in harnessing the power of big data to improve human life across a broad spectrum of disciplines. Unfortunately this informational richesse is not equitably spread across human populations. Vulnerable populations remain both under-studied and under-consulted on the use of data derived from their communities. This lack of inclusion of vulnerable populations as data collectors, data analyzers and data beneficiaries significantly restrains the utility of big data applications that contribute to human well-ness. Here we present three case studies: (1) Describing a novel genomic dataset being developed with clinical and ethnographic insights in African Americans, (2) Demonstrating how a tutorial that enables data scientists from vulnerable populations to better understand criminal justice bias using the COMPAS dataset, and (3) investigating how Indigenous genomic diversity contributes to future biomedical interventions. These cases represent some of the outstanding challenges that big data science presents when addressing vulnerable populations as well as the innovative solutions that expanding science participation brings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Latifa Jackson
- Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC, United States.,W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Caitlin Kuhlman
- Department of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, United States
| | - Fatimah Jackson
- W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC, United States.,Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - P Keolu Fox
- Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
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Jackson F, Jackson L, Cross C, Clarke C. What could you do with 400 years of biological history on african americans? Evaluating the potential scientific benefit of systematic studies of dental and skeletal materials on African Americans from the 17th through 20th centuries. Am J Hum Biol 2016; 28:510-3. [PMID: 26749025 PMCID: PMC5066698 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2015] [Revised: 11/12/2015] [Accepted: 11/28/2015] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives How important is it to be able to reconstruct the lives of a highly diverse, historically recent macroethnic group over the course of 400 years? How many insights into human evolutionary biology and disease susceptibilities could be gained, even with this relatively recent window into the past? In this article, we explore the potential ramifications of a newly constructed dataset of Four Centuries of African American Biological Variation (4Cs). Methods This article provides initial lists of digitized variables formatted as SQL tables for the 17th and 18th century samples and for the 19th and 20th century samples. Results This database is dynamic and new information is added yearly. The database provides novel opportunities for significant insights into the past biological history of this group and three case study applications are detailed for comparative computational systems biology studies of (1) hypertension, (2) the oral microbiome, and (3) mental health disorders. Conclusions The 4Cs dataset is ideal for interdisciplinary “next generation” science research and these data represent a unique step toward the accumulation of historically contextualized Big Data on an underrepresented group known to have experienced differential survival over time. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 28:510–513, 2016. © 2016 The Authors American Journal of Human Biology Published byWiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatimah Jackson
- Cobb Research Laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC.,Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC
| | - Latifa Jackson
- Cobb Research Laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC.,National Human Genome Center, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC
| | - Christopher Cross
- Cobb Research Laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC.,Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC
| | - Cameron Clarke
- Cobb Research Laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC.,Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC
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Abstract
The burdens of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are increasing in Africa. T2D and CVD are the result of the complex interaction between inherited characteristics, lifestyle, and environmental factors. The epidemic of obesity is largely behind the exploding global incidence of T2D. However, not all obese individuals develop diabetes and positive family history is a powerful risk factor for diabetes and CVD. Recent implementations of high throughput genotyping and sequencing approaches have advanced our understanding of the genetic basis of diabetes and CVD by identifying several genomic loci that were not previously linked to the pathobiology of these diseases. However, African populations have not been adequately represented in these global genomic efforts. Here, we summarize the state of knowledge of the genetic epidemiology of T2D and CVD in Africa and highlight new genomic initiatives that promise to inform disease etiology, public health and clinical medicine in Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fasil Tekola-Ayele
- Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892
| | - Adebowale A. Adeyemo
- Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892
| | - Charles N. Rotimi
- Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892
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Maguire G. Using a systems-based approach to overcome reductionist strategies in the development of diagnostics. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 2013; 13:895-905. [PMID: 24138553 DOI: 10.1586/14737159.2013.846828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Systems biology is a recent addition to the necessary but insufficient reductionist approach used in biological research. Systems biology is focused on understanding living things as a function of their various interactions at multiple levels: not simply as a sum of all their individual parts at any one level. This integrative approach yields predictive models of the normal state, the disease state and therapeutic actions. Although molecular biology has collected an enormous amount of information, including the sequencing of the entire human genome in the year 2000, few real-world applications have resulted from this molecular approach. The pharmaceutical industry's R&D expenditure has increased substantially since 2000, but the number of approved therapeutics has dropped simultaneously, due in part to over-reliance on reductionist genomic, and not systems, approaches. Instead of using reductionist genomics approaches alone, genomics should be incorporated into a multi-level systems biology approach to develop diagnostics and therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greg Maguire
- BioRegenerative Sciences, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA +1 858 413 7372
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Jackson FLC, Niculescu MD, Jackson RT. Conceptual shifts needed to understand the dynamic interactions of genes, environment, epigenetics, social processes, and behavioral choices. Am J Public Health 2013; 103 Suppl 1:S33-42. [PMID: 23927503 DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2013.301221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Social and behavioral research in public health is often intimately tied to profound, but frequently neglected, biological influences from underlying genetic, environmental, and epigenetic events. The dynamic interplay between the life, social, and behavioral sciences often remains underappreciated and underutilized in addressing complex diseases and disorders and in developing effective remediation strategies. Using a case-study format, we present examples as to how the inclusion of genetic, environmental, and epigenetic data can augment social and behavioral health research by expanding the parameters of such studies, adding specificity to phenotypic assessments, and providing additional internal control in comparative studies. We highlight the important roles of gene-environment interactions and epigenetics as sources of phenotypic change and as a bridge between the life and social and behavioral sciences in the development of robust interdisciplinary analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatimah L C Jackson
- Fatimah L. C. Jackson, and Mihai D. Niculescu are with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Robert T. Jackson is with the University of Maryland at College Park
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Abstract
Genomic science and associated technologies are providing scientists and clinicians with novel insights that are transforming the delivery of healthcare and the overall well-being of society. However, these insights inform us that historical population sampling approaches for investigating rare and common genetic variations are not representative of the complex ancestral backgrounds of today's patients. In order for personalized medicine to be meaningful and applicable to the global populations, we will need to know how common and rare genetic variants found in different parts of the world influence health and drug response. This article demonstrates the importance of increasing ethnic and racial diversity among participants in genomic research, highlights areas of opportunity for improving our understanding of genomic diversity among populations, and provides examples of successful models that help to resolve these concerns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Ramos
- Center for Research on Genomics & Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892-5635, USA
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Abstract
We propose an innovative, integrated, cost-effective health system to combat major non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular, chronic respiratory, metabolic, rheumatologic and neurologic disorders and cancers, which together are the predominant health problem of the 21st century. This proposed holistic strategy involves comprehensive patient-centered integrated care and multi-scale, multi-modal and multi-level systems approaches to tackle NCDs as a common group of diseases. Rather than studying each disease individually, it will take into account their intertwined gene-environment, socio-economic interactions and co-morbidities that lead to individual-specific complex phenotypes. It will implement a road map for predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory (P4) medicine based on a robust and extensive knowledge management infrastructure that contains individual patient information. It will be supported by strategic partnerships involving all stakeholders, including general practitioners associated with patient-centered care. This systems medicine strategy, which will take a holistic approach to disease, is designed to allow the results to be used globally, taking into account the needs and specificities of local economies and health systems.
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Earl T, Williams D, Anglade S. An Update on the Mental Health of Black Americans. JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1177/0095798410396077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Predazzi IM, Martínez-Labarga C, Vecchione L, Mango R, Ciccacci C, Amati F, Ottoni C, Crawford MH, Rickards O, Romeo F, Novelli G. Population differences in allele frequencies at theOLR1locus may suggest geographic disparities in cardiovascular risk events. Ann Hum Biol 2009; 37:136-48. [DOI: 10.3109/03014460903393857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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