News and Information
Centerpoint Fall 2008 (PDF)
New Collaborations Expand the Variety of Breast Cancer Research at Yale
Each year brings new advances in the detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer and researchers around the country focus their efforts on getting one step closer to a cure. The scientists in the Yale Cancer Center Breast Cancer Program exemplify this strategy by integrating research into every discipline in the Program, from basic to clinical research and each stage in between.
“We are lucky to have the opportunity to take advantage of the excellent basic science at Yale to bring advances in breast cancer research into the foreground,” Dr. Lyndsay Harris, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology and Director of the Yale Cancer Center Breast Cancer Program, said.
With funding from national sources like the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Defense, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, scientists at Yale have formed collaborations to create novel research programs that aim to quickly translate new findings into clinical care for our patients.
A three-year study into the basic biology of (DCIS), a non-invasive form of breast cancer, led by Donald Lannin, MD, Professor of Surgery and Director of the Yale-New Haven Breast Center, and David Stern, PhD, Professor of Pathology, is one example of how fundamental findings may lead to new options for treatment and prevention of the disease. Lannin and Stern are studying the individual biology of DCIS in an effort to determine why the disease occurs in some women, a critical step to possibly discovering a method for prevention of the disease.
Other basic science research currently underway at Yale is focused on molecular markers, DNA repair, variations in micro RNA expression, and epigenomics. Focused on changes in the genome, epigenomics is the newest focus of cancer research. “It seems likely that cancer may be closely related to aberrations in the epigenome, which then trigger vulnerable cells to mutate and cause cancer,” Dr. Harris explained. Scientists hope that their ability to understand and potentially revise changes in the epigenome at an early stage may lead to their ability to alter the progression of cancer. Efforts in this area at Yale are led by Frank Slack, PhD, Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.
While basic research at Yale seeks to understand and interrupt the emergence of cancer, clinical research is providing new options for women with breast cancer through clinical trials. Yale Cancer Center medical oncologists Maysa Abu-Khalaf, MD, Gina Chung, MD, Michael DiGiovanna, MD, PhD, and Harris are all investigators on clinical trials looking at various new therapies for women, which range from new combinations of chemotherapy and angiogenesis inhibitors to pre-operative therapy and alternatives to overcome drug resistance.
New techniques in the delivery of radiation therapy are also being revealed through studies led by Joanne Weidhaas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology. Partial Breast Irradiation has been recommended for the last several years and is used to treat early stage breast cancer by irradiating only the area immediately surrounding the cancer. Weidhaas is also using Mammosite technology to deliver radiation therapy inside of the breast and directly target the cancerous area.
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to offer women so many innovative therapies through clinical trials. Our ability to personalize treatment for each patient provides us with many more options than were previously available to us,” Dr. Harris said. “Each new year brings more opportunities and exciting news from the laboratories at Yale and throughout the world. Each of these advances gives hope to women diagnosed with breast cancer.”
