The same day as the Nite of Hope's gala soiree, the Vancouver Sun reported on an exciting breast cancer breakthrough.
Scientists, led by Dr. Sam Aparicio of the B.C. Cancer Agency, have, for the first time, decoded the complex genetic makeup of the deadliest and hardest to treat form of breast cancer.
The findings were published last week in the prestigious science journal, Nature.
TNBC accounts for about 16 per cent of all breast cancers, but 25 per cent of all deaths from breast cancer.
The study says that TNBCs are still treated as if they were one type of disease even though the latest research shows these types "do not behave as a single entity in repsonse to current therapies."
For the full article, visit www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=6410286& sponsor=true.
Nite of Hope founder Judi Miller said her fundraising efforts were born out of a desire to eradicate breast cancer through funding important, lifesaving breast cancer research.
This year's recipients of the NOH 2012 fellowships are as follows:
DR. MELISA HAMILTON
CBCF (Canadian Breast Cancer
Foundation) Fellow BC Cancer Agency $90,000 (over two years)
Project Title:
"Hypoxia-mediated mechanisms of myeloid cell induction in breast cancer metastasis"
The goal of these studies is to improve our understanding of the process of tumour metastasis and to identify novel therapeutic
targets for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer.
DR. ELISA CHAN
CBCF Fellow BC Cancer Agency $72,965 (over one year)
Project Title:
"Do general practitioner letters improve screening mammography participation rates?"
Screening mammography in British Columbia is below the national target rate.
In B.C., 43 per cent of women aged 50 to 69 years who had a normal initial mammogram do not return by 30 months.
The goal will be to determine whether the screening mammography rate in this target group improves with the primary care physician letter after six months.
The results will be shared with the Screening Mammography Program of BC so it can optimally use its resources.
The study results will also be presented nationally and published to reach an international audience and advance scientific knowledge about screening participation.
DR. JILL MURRAY
CBCF Fellow BC Cancer Agency - Deeley Research Centre $90,000 (over two years)
Project Title:
"Role of macrophagederived oncostatin-m in regulating estrogen receptor (ER) suppression in breast cancer"
We are interested in understanding why some breast tumours are ER positive while others are ER negative.
Several explanations have been proposed.
We propose that some ER negative tumours may actually be ER positive tumours in which ER has been suppressed by the tumour microenvironment.
A better understanding of the mechanism of ER suppression could potentially have a significant impact on treatment options for a subset of ER negative patients.
For more information, visit www.cbcf.org.
