Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center To Lead $11.5M Breast Cancer Consortium

[News]

The National Cancer Institute has awarded $11.5 million to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to lead a five-year, Seattle-based breast cancer research consortium. The goal of the endeavor is to positively impact breast cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care of women who have or are at risk for the disease...

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[StephN]

The project is divided into 4 separate parts with different emphases.
The first one could have wide-reaching benefit if they are able to develop the test that is the goal.

"Project 1: Predicting mortality and response to therapy - Aggressive breast tumors often express abnormally low amounts of a cell cycle inhibitor called p27. Low levels of p27 are often a marker of poor outcome in breast cancer. This project will follow a small number of breast cancer patients who have survived at least five years to test the possibility that p27 expression in tumor cells predicts poor prognosis or poor response to anti-estrogen and/or anti-HER2 therapies. If this holds true, it will be possible to develop a test that will not only predict which women will fail treatment, but also will allow researchers new insight into which targeted therapies are needed to treat drug-resistant tumors. Project co-leaders: SPORE co-principal investigator Porter will lead this project along with James Roberts, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the Basic Sciences Division at the Hutchinson Center."