NCI Specialized Program Of Research Excellence

Breast Cancer SPORE

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Overview
The Bay Area Breast Cancer Translational Research Program is a SPORE project (Specialized Program Of Research Excellence) sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, with the goal of improving diagnosis, prognostication, and therapy of breast cancer.

The SPORE includes basic researchers, physicians, population scientists, and patient advocates in the research process, concentrating in the areas of epidemiology, cancer genetics, cancer biology, and molecular therapeutics. Researchers are supported by four core resources, and overall directions are selected by a steering committee. A clinical advisory committee helps maintain a translational focus.

The SPORE focuses primarily on the development of new therapeutic approaches to breast cancer treatment and prevention using molecular insights gained from the wealth of basic cancer research ongoing at the University of California, San Francisco. The SPORE is organized into projects, developmental projects, career development projects, and cores.

Principal Investigators
    Joe W. Gray, PhD  |  John W. Park, MD

Core Areas
Administrative  |  Tissue & Outcomes   |  Biostatistics
    Bioinformatics  |  Advocacy  |  Weekly Seminar

Main Research Projects

• Risk Stratification for Subsequent Tumors in Women with DCIS (Karla Kerlikowske and Thea D. Tlsty)
• Genomic Approaches to Breast Cancer Subset Identification and Treatment (Joe W. Gray, Frederic Waldman, and Laura Esserman)
• Lipidic Nanoparticle Drugs against Aggressive Breast Cancer Subtypes (John W. Park, James D. Marks, and Christopher C. Benz)
• Breast Cancer Therapeutic Agents Based on Telomerase Misfunction (Elizabeth H. Blackburn and John W. Park)

Developmental Research Projects

• Screening Breast MRI: Predictors of Uptake and Association With Breast Cancer Risk (Mary Beattie)
• Window Trials of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor (HDACi) Therapy for DCIS (Shelley Hwang)
• Macrophage-Mediated Delivery of the Breast Tumor Suppressor HoxD10 via Autologous Transfer to Breast Tumors (Nancy Boudreau and Lisa Coussens)
• Improved Detection of Breast Cancer With Folate Receptor-Targeted Contrast Agents for MR Imaging (Heike Daldrup-Link)
• Identifying Molecular Targets for Elimination of Premalignant Breast Lesions (Thea Tlsty)

Career Development Projects

• Development of a Standard Comorbidity Index to Improve Prognostic Estimates among Breast Cancer Patients (Dejana Braithwaite)
• Radiation-Induced Mammary Tumorigenesis (Jean Nakamura)
• Engineering Monoclonal Human IgG Antibodies for Treatment of Basal Like Breast Cancers (Yu Zhou)
• Breast Cancer Genetic Testing: Interpreting and Communicating Uncertainty of BRCA Results (Galen Joseph)
• Nanostructure-Initiator Mass Spectrometry-Based Tissue Imaging to Identify Metabolic Biomarkers of Basal and Luminal Breast Cancer Subtypes (Trent Northen)
• Therapeutically Targeting Novel Metabolic Activities of Basal and Luminal Breast Tumors (Luika Timmerman)

InterSPORE Supplements

SPORE Newsletter

• Spring 2009 Newsletter (provided in PDF)
  
• Winter 2007 Newsletter (provided in PDF)
  
• Fall 2006 Newsletter (provided in PDF)