Breast Cancer Program

Baylor College Of Medicine, Houston TX

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT — BREAST CANCER PROGRAM (BCP) The main goals of the Breast Program (BCP) are to advance understanding of breast cancer development, prevention, and treatment; translate laboratory discoveries to clinical practice; facilitate intra-programmatic, inter-programmatic, and inter-institutional interactions; and provide an enriched learning environment for students and postdoctoral medical and laboratory-based trainees. The Program, which includes 25 Research Members and 14 Clinical Members, is led by Alastair Thompson, MD and Xiang (Shawn) Zhang, PhD. The BCP has both a strong basic science group and a multidisciplinary clinical breast center with a large, growing clinical and translational program. As of July 2024, the Program has total direct funding of $21.3 million, of which $11.9 million is peer-reviewed, including $6.2 million from the NCI. In the last 5 years, Program members published 387 peer-reviewed, cancer-related manuscripts, of which 28% and 35% represented intra- and inter-programmatic collaborations, respectively; 40% were published in journals with an impact factor >10 and 16% with an impact factor >20. The BCP is organized around three research themes: 1) Pre-Invasive Disease and Prevention, 2) Treatment Resistance, and 3) Metastasis. Translation to the clinic is an integral component of all three themes. Major accomplishments of the BCP during the previous progress period include discovering new principles underlying breast cancer metastasis and the mechanism of metastasis-to-metastasis seeding. We applied integrated ultra-sensitive omics to identify novel determinants of therapeutic resistance and identified fundamental principles guiding the evolution of the immune ecosystem evolution in triple-negative breast cancer and its impact on responses to checkpoint blockade. Many of these accomplishments supported the renewal of a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) that has been continuously funded for three decades. Our clinical trial portfolio, which includes national and international studies, is robust and highly translational, yielding results with the potential to alter the way we understand and treat breast cancer. The scope of our investigator-initiated trials ranges from early through late phase trials of drugs (based on BCP discoveries), to device trials in key surgical and radiation therapeutic settings. Inter-programmatic collaborations with CPPS include a novel shared-care model between oncologists and primary care providers for cancer survivors with chronic comorbidities (like obesity), pandemic impacts on breast screening and a program developed for patients at risk for hereditary breast cancer. In the past 5 years, BCP recruited new faculty, including SPORE CEP awardees. Multiple NIH training awards, success in tenure track faculty positions and promotions reflect the supportive educational environment of the BCP. The reciprocal support of the DLDCCC for and with the BCP reflects the longstanding strong relationships within the organization.