Fig. 1: WGDs are more common among self-reported Black cancer patients and those with inferred African genetic ancestry.

A A schematic of the whole-genome duplication process. WGDs produce a cell with a doubled chromosome complement (typically 4N). WGD events are associated with metastasis and disease progression. Loss of the tumor suppressor TP53 promotes WGDs; other causes of WGDs are largely unknown. The frequency of WGDs in self-reported Black and white patients from three different cohorts: B MSK-MET, C TCGA, and D PCAWG. Note that in the PCAWG dataset, a patient’s self-reported race was not available, and instead inferred genetic ancestry was used (African (AFR) vs European (EUR)). E The frequency of WGD events in self-reported Black and white patients with either breast cancer, endometrial cancer, or NSCLC, in the MSK-MET and TCGA cohorts. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Statistical testing was performed via two-tailed Pearson’s Chi-squared test. Statistical significance: NS p ≥ 0.05, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001. Figure 1A was created with BioRender.com released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en).