Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Institute

City, State, Country 

University of California, Irvine

Irvine, Calif.

Phytoestrogens have been shown to have a protective effect in breast cancer. Activation of the estrogen receptor can affect breast cancer growth. Researchers propose to look at a novel phytoestrogen-related receptor, SXR, to gain new insights into the mechanisms involved.

University of California,

San Francisco

San Francisco, Calif.

The ZNF217 is a cancer gene associated with aggressive tumor behavior. Researchers believe it may function in a novel way and plan to investigate its role in tumor development.

Yale University

New Haven, Conn.

Researchers will develop a mouse model to understand the role genes such as p27 play in cell cycle regulation, and develop new strategies and drugs for regulation of the mammary cell cycle.

Georgetown University

Washington, D.C.

Because of the high level of oxygen radicals produced by mitochondria, mitochondrial DNA may be very susceptible to oxidative damage. Researchers will employ novel screening techniques to examine the role of mitochondrial DNA changes in modifying cancer risk.

University of Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii

Using questionnaires sent to 1,900 breast cancer survivors and 500 physicians, and following up with focus groups, researchers will determine how treatment decisions are made in this population.

University of Illinois at Chicago

Chicago, Ill.

Using cDNA array technology, scientists will examine new mammary cell lines and assay for genes involved in breast cancer metastasis.

Henry M. Jackson Foundation

for the Advancement of

Military Medicine

Rockville, Md.

University of Massachusetts

Amherst, Mass.

Researchers will investigate a possible link between p53 tumor suppressor genes and hormonal status in breast cancer.

Schepens Eye Research Institute

Boston, Mass.

Wnt genes are involved in a subset of mammary tumors and Wnt inhibitors may be able to reverse epithelial tumor growth. Using assays sensitive to Wnt, researchers hope to identify novel inhibitors of Wnt signaling.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Mass.

By examining tumor cell lines in families with syndromes that have phenotypes similar to breast cancer but no p53 mutations, and comparing them to the general population, researchers hope to detect mutations in p53 genes by employing a unique systematic approach that may yield higher cancer risk.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Boston, Mass.

Researchers will identify and characterize newly expressed proteins that cause plasma cell reactions in medullary breast cancers. They will use molecular cloning techniques to assess possible roles for these proteins in metastasis.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Boston, Mass.

Garden State Cancer Center

Belleville, N.J.

The NK receptor system is overexpressed in breast cancer. Researchers will use peptide targeting to try to establish an improved carrier of therapeutic agents to the NK receptor system.

Albany Medical College

Albany, N.Y.

Researchers will demonstrate that the peptide P472 blocks estrogen-dependent growth of human breast cancer, will pinpoint the site of P472′s action, and will determine if P472 could be an effective agent to use in combination with tamoxifen against breast cancer.

State University of New York

Buffalo, N.Y.

Phytosterols, which are plant sterols similar to cholesterol, show anti-cancer properties. This study will see if a diet rich in nuts, fruits, and vegetables can modify serum phytosterols and lower the risk for breast cancer.

Long Island Jewish Medical Center

New Hyde Park, N.Y.

Researchers will try to define the mechanisms underlying tumor suppression activity of omega-3 fatty acids, and determine if they could be possible breast cancer intervention compounds.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

New York, N.Y.

Researchers will study tumor properties of TGF-beta. They will look at its dual role in development and progression of tumors of epithelial origin and clone novel signaling complexes which may cause changes in tumor cell responsiveness.

Columbia University

New York, N.Y.

LINE-1 transpositions are novel ways that DNA can be altered and have not been examined as a possible cause of breast cancer. Researchers will compare blood and tumor samples from normal and breast cancer patients to see if these transpositions occur more frequently in cancer patients.

Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Winston-Salem, N.C.

Institute for Cancer Research

Philadelphia, Pa.

Breast cancer can arise from defects in DNA repair genes. Researchers will use a novel methodology to rapidly screen for defects in base-excision DNA repair genes to see if they are associated with sporadic breast cancer.

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pa.

Using X-ray crystallography, researchers will gain a structural understanding of receptor activation and will be able to design novel approaches for reversing activation in human cancers.

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pa.

Genetic changes specific to the cap cell population are also present in aggressive tumors. Researchers will try to determine if the highly proliferative and invasive cap cell population is a target for metastatic breast cancer.

Fox Chase Cancer Center

Philadelphia, Pa.

Using an experimental system they developed, researchers will provide functional evidence of whether DNA mismatch repair, of which microsatellite instability is one manifestation, could be defective at the cancer initiation stage of the disease.

Thomas Jefferson University

Philadelphia, Pa.

Needle biopsies for breast cancer carry risk for hematoma and infection. Breast nipple aspiration provides fluid with minimal discomfort and can yield cells which give rise to cancer. Researchers will determine if biomarkers in this fluid can predict the benign or malignant nature of breast lesions.

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Researchers will use an experimental assay of archived frozen tumors to identify estrogen receptor mutations and correlate their expression with clinical outcome, which could have implications for tamoxifen therapy.

Clemson University

Clemson, S.C.

Researchers will attempt to produce and purify a new receptor specific antagonist that will inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation by inducing programmed cell death.

Baylor College of Medicine

Houston, Texas

Seventy percent of patients dying of breast cancer have bone metastasis.

Researchers will attempt to develop a mouse model to study bone metastasis and determine if overexpression of the proto-oncogene neu and overproduction of PTHrp would closely mimic human breast cancer.

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Researchers will synthesize six novel imaging compounds and select the optimal one for use as an improved cancer cell marker in sentinel node biopsies, which may help decrease the false-negative rate of biopsies.

University of Vermont & State Agricultural College

Burlington, Vt.

Using a unique method of identifying ligands specific to breast cancer cells in patient blood, researchers hope to find novel peptides that can be conjugated to agents which may be effective cancer therapies.

Virginia Mason Research Center

Seattle, Wash.

Researchers will develop a new mouse model to understand mechanisms by which human breast cancers evade immune rejection. This may lead to effective counterstrategies to prevent or reverse the cancer process in humans.

St. Vincent’s Hospital

University of Melbourne

Victoria, Australia

The epithelio-mesenchymal transition is thought to be a critical step leading to breast metastasis. Researchers will attempt to obtain new diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets related to movement of breast cancer cells from epithelial to mesenchymal in the body.

Hadassah Hospital

Jerusalem, Israel

Molecules that inhibit heparanase activity are also capable of suppressing tumor metastasis. Researchers will try to determine what role these molecules play in breast cancer.