Earlier Detection
The CBCRP continues to support this research topic, because of the close link between earlier detection and increased survival rates. Breast cancers can be present for up to 10 years or longer before becoming large enough to be seen on a mammogram. If smaller tumors could be ‘seen,’ then more breast cancers would be caught at the critical point before they spread to other parts of the body. In addition, we need to be able to analyze breast cancers for different characteristics associated with malignancy (e.g., angiogenesis), so that treatment strategies can be individualized for each woman. Finally, external monitoring could determine whether drugs actually find the tumor and have the desired effect of killing malignant cancer cells.
The eight newly funded CBCRP research projects for earlier detection in 2001 include these aims:
- Optical detection. Can the properties of polarized light be used to detect breast tumors?
- Computerized tomography. Developing a pilot system optimized for breast cancer.
- Magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Detecting the biochemical signatures of breast cancer without biopsy using a special two-dimensional method.
- Biomarkers. Discovery of proteins and genes that indicate the presence of breast cancer, and development of non-invasive blood tests.
These projects respond to the needs expressed by breast cancer advocates and their physicians. Younger women need better and more sensitive detection methods that can find breast cancer hidden in ‘dense’ tissue and find smaller, often more aggressive, tumors. Women would like to avoid any exposure to the ionizing radiation needed to perform mammography. Women want convenience and comfort improvements over mammography. However, if cancer is suspected, then detection techniques should quickly determine whether it is benign or malignant. Waiting for biopsy results causes great psychological stress.
The challenge for research on earlier detection is not just to develop an improved ‘microscope’ for breast cancer, but also to be more disease-informative and cost effective.
Breast CT for Much Earlier Detection of Breast Cancer
Boone, John
Lindfors, Karen
University of California, Davis
3 years, $500,000
LPC as a Potential Tumor Marker for Recurrent Breast Cancer
Chew,Helen
University of California, Davis
1.5 years, $100,000
Optical Spectroscopic Detection and Imaging of Breast Cancer
Demos, Stavros
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Ramsamooj, Rajen
University of California, Davis
1.5 years, $149,667
Targeting of Tumor-Promoting Galectins in Breast Cancer
Huflejt, Margaret
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center
1 year, $182,500
Early Detection of Breast Cancer and it Recurrence
Imam, Syed Ashraf
Huntington Medical Research Institute
2 years, $365,446
Breast Cancer Imaging by 2-D Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Thomas, M.Albert
University of California, Los Angeles
2 years, $249,137
2-D Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Breast Tumors
Wyckoff, Nathaniel
University of California, Los Angeles
2 years, $80,000
Tax Check-off Grant
Clinical Utility of Breast Cancer DNA Markers in Serum
Hoon, Dave
John Wayne Cancer Institute
2 years, $472,000
