A portion of the proceeds from the Gavers Community Cancer Foundation’s annual Barn Dance is directed to the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund, which in turn, supports a variety of cancer programs at Rush University Medical Center. Gavers funds are currently supporting three breast cancer research projects directed by principal investigators in three different disciplines:

• Ruta Rao, MD, a clinical oncologist, is assessing the effectiveness of the drug Tarceva as a targeted therapy for patients with “triple negative” breast cancers. Tarceva is already approved as a targeted therapy for treating certain types of lung cancer and for pancreatic cancer. Targeted therapies, which work by blocking the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific molecules that affect tumor growth and progression, differ from traditional chemotherapies, which work by interfering with rapidly dividing cells. Triple negative breast cancers are tumors that lack the three common receptors that are known to fuel most breast cancers: estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER 2). Current targeted therapies aim at those receptors, but Dr. Rao is hopeful that the drug Tarceva may be effective in patients whose breast cancers are not driven by these receptors.
  
  
• Katherine L. Griem, MD, a radiation oncologist, is collaborating with the Argonne National Laboratory, adapting a NASA technology called thermal tomography, to predict a patient’s probability of developing a skin reaction from radiation therapy for breast cancer. When radiation-induced dermatitis occurs, it can be painful and may require modification of the treatment which can compromise its effectiveness. Dr. Griem’s goal is to develop a technology with the ability to predict and prevent toxicity in individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes from radiation therapy.
  
  
• Immunologist and microbiologist Amanda Lee Marzo, PhD, is studying a mouse model to determine the molecular mechanisms for detecting and maintaining an anti-tumor response to breast cancer. This study operates on the idea that one possible explanation for the inability to eradicate breast tumors in the human system is that a tumor’s microenvironment has properties that inhibit the body’s own response mechanisms from fighting the tumor. If successful, this research could ultimately pave the way for the development of a vaccine against certain breast cancers.

Visit the Rush University Medical Center website at www.rush.edu.

The Gavers Community Cancer Foundation is proud to partner with Rush in their research for a cure

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