Fig. 3.

Possible disease-modifying implications of an immune signature in breast and prostate tumors of African-American patients. Differences in tumor immunobiology and in the development of a low-grade inflammation between African-American and European-American may arise from differences in either environmental or tumor environmental exposures or could be related to tumor subtype differences between the two patient groups. A low-grade chronic inflammation in tumors has been linked to activation of oncogenic pathways, increased tissue remodeling and tumor vascularization and the development of tumor immune escape mechanisms. VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.