Executive Summary
During 2006, the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) awarded $9.8 million for 53 single- and multiple-year research projects at 34 California institutions. These pages list the studies funded this year, the studies in progress, and summaries of 55 studies funded in previous years that were completed during 2006.
Table 1. Grants Awarded in 2006 by Subject Area |
|||
Number of Grants |
Amount |
Percentage of Total Funding |
|
| Community Impact of Breast Cancer | 18 |
$3,172,432 |
32.3% |
| Etiology and Prevention | 3 |
$797,337 |
8.1% |
| Biology of the Breast Cell | 15 |
$2,331,263 |
23.7% |
| Detection, Prognosis and Treatment | 17 |
$3,527,297 |
35.9% |
Totals |
53 |
$9,828,329 |
100% |
Designed to push breast cancer research in new, creative directions, the CBCRP is funded primarily by a California state tax on tobacco. Since 1993, the CBCRP has provided over $174 million in research funds.
The need is urgent. Every two hours, on average, a California woman dies of breast cancer. More than 220,000 California women are living with the disease, and close to 19,000 more will be diagnosed this year. Over the past two decades, some progress has been made. Between 1988 and 2003, the breast cancer death rate for California women dropped 28%. While some argue that this is the result of earlier detection, there has been no significant drop in diagnosis of cancers that have spread to other parts of the body. Thus, it is more likely that the lower death rate is due to improvements in treatment, or to more women receiving appropriate treatment.
Although the death rate is down, the rate at which California women get breast cancer climbed steeply between 1973 and 1988, and has only dropped slightly over the past few years. There is currently no scientific way to assure any woman that she will not get breast cancer, and every woman who has had breast cancer knows that it can return at any time. Further research is needed to find out why so many women get breast cancer and how to prevent it.
Breast cancer activists have played a leading role in the CBCRP from the beginning. They helped write and pass the statewide legislation that created the Program in 1993. Women with breast cancer and survivors of the disease are involved in all levels of the CBCRP’s decision making, including decisions about which projects get funded. With input from these advocates, the CBCRP has established a record for funding cutting-edge studies and jump-starting new areas of research. The Program’s goal is to fund the projects that will lead most rapidly to the end of the breast cancer epidemic.
This report has been prepared by the University of California pursuant to Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 103 of the California Health and Safety Code, Section 104145; and the Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 30461-30462.1 and 18791-18796. The following required reporting elements will be addressed in this report:
1. The number and dollar amounts of research grants, including the amount allocated to indirect costs.
The CBCRP awarded $9.8 million for 53 single- and multiple-year research projects at 34 California institutions in 2006. A complete list of newly funded grants can be found in Table 2.
2. The institutions and campuses receiving grant awards.
All funded grants are listed with the recipient institutions in the Research and Results section of this report (pages 27 – 63).
3. The subject of research grants.
All of the investigator-initiated grants funded by the CBCRP involve key questions in one or more of the following research areas:
• Basic Biology of the Breast (normal breast biology and breast cancer pathogenesis)
• Breast Cancer Causes and Prevention
• Earlier Detection, Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer
• Community Impact of Breast Cancer (Socio-cultural behavioral studies, and health policy)
We also are setting aside $18 over five years to fund our Special Research Initiatives, which is a program-initiated endeavor to identify and support research strategies to understand and address both the environmental causes of breast cancer and the unequal burden of the disease.
4. The relationship between federal and state funding for breast cancer research.
The CBCRP avoids duplication of funding at the individual grant level and in the Program’s research priorities. We identify and attempt to fill important gaps in knowledge about breast cancer. We review priorities yearly in light of changes in the research field, successes and failures of previous funding initiatives, and the results of previous funding. Additionally, as founding members of the International Cancer Research Portfolio we are able to ensure that CBCRP funding complements rather than duplicates grants bestowed by other funding organizations.
The CBCRP’s Breast Cancer Research Council sets the Program’s funding priorities, taking into account:
• Opinions from national breast cancer experts
• Opinions from California advocates and activists, healthcare providers, public health practitioners, community leaders, biotechnology scientists, and academic researchers
• Current literature on breast cancer and current gaps in knowledge
• In-house evaluations of the efficacy of CBCRP grant mechanisms and topic areas in fulfilling program goals.
5. The relationship between each project and the overall strategy of the research program.
The following ten criteria are used to set priorities that push the boundaries of research.
1. The research helps form and nurture collaboration among California scientists, clinicians, advocates, community members, and others.
2. The research helps recruit, retain, and develop high-quality California-based investigators who engage in breast cancer research.
3. The research embodies innovative ideas (i.e., new drugs, new strategies, new paradigms).
4. The research addresses the public health outcomes of prevention, earliest detection, effective treatments, and quality of life.
5. The research leads quickly to more effective products, technologies, or interventions and their application/delivery to Californians.
6. The research helps drive policy in both the private and public sectors on breast cancer in California.
7. The research reduces disparities and/or addresses the needs of the underserved in California.
8. The research complements, builds on, feeds into, but does not duplicate the research programs of other organizations interested in breast cancer.
9. The research addresses a breast cancer need that is specific but not necessarily unique to the burden of breast cancer in California.
10. The research is responsive to the perceived breast cancer research needs and expectations of the CBCRP as identified by scientists and the public in California.
Each individual grant is evaluated by our scientific review committees and our advisory BCRC for essential criteria for addressing these goals, including innovativeness, impact on breast cancer, responsiveness to program priorities, whether it’s an underfunded research area and integration of advocacy issues.
6. A summary of research findings including discussion of promising new areas.
Summaries of all of the completed research grants are included in the body of this report. Listed below are just a few of the findings:
- John Park and Morton Lieberman of the University of California, San Francisco developed and evaluated an internet tool to match breast cancer patients to clinical trials, bct.org. They are now preparing for a nation-wide launch.
- Soo-Young Chin at the Korean Health, Education, Information and Research Center (KHEIR), Los Angeles and Annette Maxwell at the University of California, Los Angeles have identified strategies to improve access to breast cancer education and services in the Korean community
- Kristen Kulp at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory found that essiac tea, an herbal extract used by many breast cancer patients as a complementary therapy to traditional treatment, does not protect against DNA damage or tumor formation in animals.
- Stefanie Jeffrey at Stanford University and Thea Tlsty at the University of California, San Francisco have identified a distinct molecular signature in non-tumor cells near breast tumors that can be used to detect pre-cancerous cells.
- Jeffrey Smith at the Burnham Institute of Medical Research has determined that a protein called maspin is key player in regulating breast cancer metastasis.
- Dave S.B. Hoon, Armando E. Giuliano and Lori L. Wilson at the John Wayne Cancer Institute used a new technology called proteomics to identify proteins that predict which tumors are likely to spread to the lymph nodes.
- Ana Krtolica at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found the critical genetic changes occurring in the aging breast that can contribute to cancer development.
7. Inclusion of women and minorities in research studies.
Sixty percent (32 of 53) of the grants awarded by the CBCRP in 2006 studied either women or tissues from women, while the remaining 40% were laboratory studies that did not directly involve women or tissues from women.
Of the 32 grants that involved women or tissues from women, all of the grants involved women as participants and four of the grants (13%) also used tissues or tumor samples.
One-hundred percent (32) of these studies included minority women in the study.
- Fifty-three percent (17) are focused on underserved women.
- Fifty-three percent (17) are focused on minority women.
This report describes the CBCRP’s recent activities, goals, progress, and plans for the challenges that lie ahead on the road to decreasing the human and economic cost of breast cancer for the people of California.
