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Breast cancer makes up a third of all cancer diagnoses for black women and for those with the most common type of cancer, black women are 42% more likely to die of the disease than white women. The reasons for these disparities are complex and include socio-economic factors and racism, but there is also a historical absence of samples from black women in research databases and lack of inclusion in clinical trials.

Researchers at Stanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute at La Jolla, California in the US have discovered significant differences at the molecular level which could explain some of the disparities. Dr Svasti Haricharan and her team found significant differences in black women in the all-important DNA damage repair genes, the proteins which form our body鈥檚 first line of defence against damage to our DNA.

Dr Haricharan tells Marnie Chesterton that these findings have real-world implications for the treatments black women receive, and when they are offered. She says there is evidence of "real systemic bias" in research.

""From a scientific point of view that is jaw dropping"

Photo: A woman in an office setting Credit: Getty Images

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