Breast Cancer Research

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Georgetown University has been consistently ranked in the Top 10 Institutions Worldwide conducting breast cancer research by ESI Thompson Scientific, publishers of the ISI Science Citation Index. Lombardi's Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research at Georgetown is home to many of the top breast cancer researchers and clinicians in the United States. Currently, Georgetown is ranked 6th in the world for breast cancer publications, which total over 500 in the past ten years alone. For more information, visit http://esi-topics.com/breast-cancer2005.

The Breast Cancer Program of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is a comprehensive translational research program. Its primary mission is to improve diagnosis, therapy and preventive measures of the disease, based upon a detailed and exacting knowledge of the fundamental molecular events responsible for cellular transformation, mitogenesis, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and drug resistance. The major areas of research emphasis are growth regulation of breast cancer; mechanism of action of estrogen and antiestrogens; novel proteases involved in breast cancer progression; clinical and preclinical studies involving the chemoprevention and epidemiology of breast cancer; genetics of breast cancer; and clinical studies in human breast cancer.

The overall scientific goals of the interdisciplinary research team of the Breast Cancer (BC) Program integrate the three general areas of clinical research, basic science and pathology research, and population-based and behavioral research.

Specific aims of the program are:
Aim 1 - To identify new mechanisms in the onset and progression of breast cancer, integrating the use of cellular and animal models and human pathologic tissue specimens.
Aim 2 - To explore in human populations the effects of environmental and genetic risk factors and to establish new methods of screening and early detection of breast cancer.
Aim 3 - To test in the clinical setting new methods for prevention and treatment of human breast cancer.