Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Breast SPORE Renewal Rewards Research

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Article Date: 21 Oct 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer has received a new round of grant funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The NCI will provide $12 million over the next five years to support and expand Vanderbilt-Ingram's translational research efforts in breast cancer.

"We are grateful that the NCI has recognized the high quality of our research program and rewarded our team for the novel and promising avenues of research we are pursuing," said Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D., professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology and Director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Breast Cancer Research Program. "We received an outstanding priority score from our peers, which provides validation of the research directions and quality of our translational program."

The NCI initiated organ-specific SPORE grants in 1992 to encourage translational research which is designed to speed discoveries from the laboratory into treatment options in the clinic. This patient-centered research platform encompasses work by basic scientists, epidemiologists and clinicians and encourages collaboration.

Vanderbilt-Ingram received its first SPORE grant in Breast Cancer in 2002. The NCI provided more than $12 million over five years for research designed to improve the diagnosis, screening, prevention and treatment of breast cancer. In 2008, the NCI estimates that 182,460 women and 1,990 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,480 women and 450 men will die from the disease.

The Vanderbilt-Ingram Breast Cancer SPORE comprises four novel initiatives focused on mechanisms of resistance to anti-estrogen therapy in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, use of the p63/p73 signaling axis as a target for treatment of triple negative or basal-type breast cancer, investigation of cellular mechanisms of bone quality in patients with metastatic breast cancer, and determination of genetic predictors of progression to invasive breast cancer in patients with premalignant breast disease.

The SPORE grant for breast cancer brings together 15 co-investigators from seven departments in the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, spanning a breadth of basic science and clinical disciplines.

"Working as a team we want to make an impact on breast cancer research, treatment, detection and prevention worldwide," said Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., director of Vanderbilt-Ingram and a Breast Cancer SPORE researcher. "The SPORE grants from NCI are critical to our mission of making a difference in the lives of cancer patients."

Pietenpol noted that all three of Vanderbilt-Ingram's SPORE grants in breast, lung and GI cancer have now been renewed by NCI, which is a remarkable accomplishment among national cancer centers.

"By securing renewed funding for Vanderbilt's Breast SPORE, Dr. Arteaga and his colleagues have demonstrated the importance and innovation of their work," said Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Interim Dean of the School of Medicine. "And this type of ground-breaking research is critical in winning the battle against cancer."

The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of two centers in Tennessee and 41 in the country to earn this highest distinction. Its nearly 300 faculty members generate more than $140 million in annual federal research funding, ranking it among the top 10 centers in the country in competitive grant support, and its clinical program sees approximately 4,000 new cancer patients each year. Vanderbilt-Ingram, based in Nashville, Tenn., recently joined with 21 of the world's leading centers in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a non-profit alliance dedicated to improving cancer care for patients everywhere. For more information, visit http://www.vicc.org.

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

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