Every cancer survivor is a superhero who has been battling against this disease. Scientists bring hope through research developments in discovering links to find answers. Superheroes also include the ones who are globalizing their efforts to help fight against this common villain – cancer. Awareness programs and preventive measures are making strides to step up the survival rates.
The Global Fight Against Breast Cancer
Following are some of the top American
Cancer Society scientists who are committed to finding answers that will help
women stay well and get well.
• Mary-Claire King, PhD, at the
University of Washington, has ongoing work investigating BRCA1, BRCA2, and
other breast cancer genes. This work continues to promote understanding of the
underlying biology of the disease, in turn driving advances that can be
translated to the clinic. King and others are harnessing knowledge of breast
cancer genetics to develop a number of breast cancer screens, tests, and
therapeutic procedures.
• Ryan Jensen, PhD, and Stephen
Kowalczykowski, PhD, at the University of California-Davis, successfully
purified the BRCA2 protein – an accomplishment that eluded other investigators
for more than 15 years. This triumph will allow scientists to better understand
how the BRCA2 protein functions, laying the groundwork for new breast cancer
therapies.
• American Cancer Society Health
Services Researcher Stacey Fedewa, MPH, has conducted research
suggesting that African American and Hispanic patients are at significantly
greater risk for delays in breast cancer treatment, which may be a contributing
factor in persistent racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes.
• Vanessa Sheppard, PhD, at
Georgetown University, developed the Sisters Informing Sisters intervention for
African American women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer in an effort
to reduce treatment disparities in this population.
• Using data from the Society’s Cancer
Prevention Study II (CPS-II), American Cancer Society Senior Epidemiologist Lauren
Teras, PhD, found that weight loss during a 10-year period did not appear
to influence the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. However, her research
did reveal that weight loss of 10 or more pounds that was maintained over at
least 5 years might reduce breast cancer risk amongpostmenopausal women.
• Breast Cancer Statistics, 2011,
a report from the American Cancer Society Surveillance Research department,
found that breast cancer mortality rates continue to decline steadily, and that
the drop in mortality since 1990 has been larger among women under 50 (3.2% per
year) than among women over 50 (2.0% per year). The report also finds that a
slower and later decline in breast cancer death rates among women in poor areas
has resulted in a shift in the highest breast cancer death rates from women
residing in affluent areas to those in poor areas.
Putting Answers into Action
For more than 60 years, the American
Cancer Society research program has been finding the answers that help us
understand how to prevent, detect, and treat all cancer types, including breast
cancer. With support from American Cancer Society funding during their careers,
these pioneers in breast cancer research laid the foundation for breast cancer
treatments that are saving lives today:
1950s – Stanley Cohen, PhD, discovered the epidermal growth factor
receptor (EGFR), which is linked to cell growth and multiple cancer types.
Studies are currently under way to see if anti-EGFR drugs that are already used
to treat other types of cancers, such as cetuximab (Erbitux®) and erlotinib
(Tarceva®), might also work against breast cancer. Cohen was later awarded a
Nobel Prize for his work.
1978 – Bernard Fisher, MD, Richard
Love, MD, and V. Craig Jordan, PhD, developed
and carried out the first trial of tamoxifen to prevent recurrence in breast
cancer survivors.
1979 – Arnold Levine, MD, discovered the p53 protein, later shown
to be a tumor suppressor gene mutated in more than half of all cancers,
including breast cancer.
1988 – Dennis Slamon, MD, discovered that the her2/neu growth
factor receptor is overexpressed in 15-30% of breast cancers, and is an
unfavorable prognostic feature. Slamon went on to develop Herceptin
(trastuzumab), which is used today to treat thousands of women with breast
cancer.
1998 – Bernard Fisher, MD, reported that tamoxifen reduces the
incidence of breast cancer by 49% in high-risk women.
2001 – Walt Disney-American Cancer Society
Research Professor for Breast Cancer Mary Claire King, PhD, along with
former Society grantee Bernard Fischer, MD, reported that tamoxifen
prevents recurrence of breast cancer in BRCA2 but not BRCA1 patients.
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