Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the largest nonprofit funder of breast cancer research outside of the U.S. Government, is announcing its funding grants to Texas breast cancer researchers, funds that total $8.4 million in new research dollars earmarked to develop breakthrough drugs for common breast cancers, more effectively treat advanced forms of the disease, and improve breast cancer outcomes for Latinas and other medically under-served women.
This year's grants include the following:
$4 million Komen Promise Grant to Drs. Bert O'Malley and Kent Osborne of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who will work along two tracks to find new drugs to combat the most common form of breast cancer -- estrogen-driven ER-positive disease (diagnosed in about 70 percent of breast cancer cases): One, to identify women who will get no benefit out of tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors, the most commonly used therapies; and Two, to develop new treatments that will work.
$1.83 million to Baylor College of Medicine for studies ranging from prevention strategies to clinical trials providing gene testing for medically under-served women.
$1.89 million to MD Anderson Cancer Center to focus on metastatic disease, including $180,000 to Methodist Hospital Research Center in Houston for research into nanotechnology's uses for more effective therapies.
$250,000 Komen scholar grant to Dr. Amelie Ramirez of the UT Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, to explore and understand why breast cancer outcomes are often worse in Hispanic women and Latinas.
$180,000 to Shrikanth Gadad, Ph.D., and mentor, W. Lee Kraus of UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas to study the role of a protein in the development and progression of breast cancer that is normally involved in DNA repair.
The research grants add to more than $10 million in 2012 community health grants given by Komen Affiliates across the state, in cities such as Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Waco, Plano, Tyler, Wichita Falls, Texarkana, El Paso, Amarillo and Lubbock, where hundreds of thousands of Texan women facing a possible diagnosis of breast cancer receive medical attention including screenings, education, treatment assistance and financial and social support
"None of this research or progress of the past 30 years would be possible without the generosity of our partners and donors in communities, and we are so grateful for those who understand and support this vital work for all people facing breast cancer," said Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO of Komen for the Cure.
Source: MarketWatch
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