UGA Today

UGA offers experts for “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”

October 4, 2011

Writer:

Mickey Montevideo

Mickey Montevideo

Public Relations Coordinator

Recent and archived articles by Mickey Montevideo

Office of Public Affairs
Hodgson Oil Building
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Email: mickeym@uga.edu

Contact:

Mickey Y. Montevideo

Mickey Montevideo

Public Relations Coordinator

Office of Public Affairs
Hodgson Oil Building
286 Oconee Street
Athens, GA

Email: mickeym@uga.edu

Related Sites

• Cancer Center
• College of Pharmacy
• College of Family and Consumer Sciences
• Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
• Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
• College of Public Health

Athens, Ga. - October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the University of Georgia has experts who have dedicated their research and study to discovering causes and treatment options for breast cancer, which strikes one in eight women. These experts are available for commentary throughout the month.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S. in 2011, and about 57,650 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer will be treated. At this time, there are more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S., which includes women still being treated and those who have completed treatment. The ACS further estimates that approximately 39,520 women will die from the disease in 2011. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. Death rates from breast cancer have declined since 1990, which is believed to be the result of early detection through screening and awareness, as well as improved treatment options.
The following is a list of breast cancer research experts at UGA. Contact the UGA News Service at 706/542-8083 or news@uga.edu should you need additional assistance.
Delaying the Spread of Breast Cancer
Michael Pierce is the director of the UGA Cancer Center and co-author of a 2010 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that indicates that blocking the action of an enzyme called GnT-V significantly delays the onset and spread of tumors in mice with cancer very similar to many cases of human breast cancer. When the GnT-V enzyme activity in the cells was increased in mammary gland cells, they increased proliferation and began to take on many characteristics of cancer cells. Using a mouse model of human breast cancer, tumors appeared when the enzyme was deleted, but onset was delayed an average of 10 weeks in the mice. In human terms, the corresponding delay would be many months and possibly years. By slowing the pace of the cancer, the spread to other organs may be eliminated, keeping the disease localized and allowing treatment to be more successful.
Michael Pierce
http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/uga-researchers-identify-key-enzyme-that-regulates-the-early-growth-of-brea/
706/542-1702
hawkeye@uga.edu
Biomarkers for Breast Cancer
Karen Abbott is an American Cancer Society Fellow and postdoctoral associate at the UGA Complex Carbohydrate Research Center working on the identification of glycoproteins that are biomarkers for the early detection of breast cancer. Abbott is a member of Michael Pierce's team at the UGA Cancer Center.
Karen Abbott, research scientist
http://cell.ccrc.uga.edu/~pierce/people.html
706/ 542-1701
kabbott@uga.edu
Breast Cancer Researchers on the Forefront
Eileen Kennedy, assistant professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences in UGA College of Pharmacy, received a National Cancer Institute Transition Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health for more than $570,600 over the next three years. She hopes to disrupt protein-protein interactions to uncover specific cell signaling events in breast cancer.
Eileen Kennedy
http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/kennedy-receives-570600-nci-award-for-cancer-research/
706/542-6497
ekennedy@rx.uga.edu
Breast Cancer and the Use of Thiamine (Vitamin B1)
Jason Zastre, an assistant professor in the UGA College of Pharmacy, is studying how a common vitamin used to treat breast cancer patients might actually be harmful to those patients. Zastre's studies focus on the uptake and function of thiamine, or vitamin B1, which is essential for the functioning of the heart, muscles and nervous system, and helps the body's cells convert carbohydrates, including glucose, into energy. His study was published in the December 2010 issue of Cancer Biology and Therapy.
Jason Allan Zastre
http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/study-vitamin-therapy-may-be-harmful-cancer-patients/
706/542-0290
jzastre@rx.uga.edu

Dosing Schedules for Breast Cancer Medications
Robert Arnold's focus is on optimizing the delivery and dosing schedules of existing and novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of various cancers, including breast cancer. A Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar and assistant professor in the UGA College of Pharmacy, Arnold's team is looking specifically at the dosing effects of topotecan in breast cancer models.

Robert Arnold
http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/uga-study-finds-that-less-is-more-for-common-cancer-drug/
706/542-6813
rarnold@rx.uga.edu
Breast Cancer and Younger Women
Stephanie Burwell is an assistant professor of child and family development in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences who studies the psychosocial outcomes of breast cancer and breast cancer treatment on women between the ages of 18-50 along with their husbands or partners. Her research has focused on sexual function following surgical treatment of breast cancer in younger women, the impact of breast cancer on younger women's relationships with their partners and children, coping strategies used by younger women with breast cancer, attachment behaviors and proximity-seeking in cancer patients and their partners, and the use of a feminist informed medical family therapy model to assist younger women and their partners during diagnosis, treatment and their transition to survivorship. Her recent papers have been published in such journals as the Journal of Clinical Oncology; Families, Systems, and Health; and the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy.
Stephanie Burwell
http://www.fcs.uga.edu/cfd/faculty.php?id=222
706/542-4897
sburwell@uga.edu
Breast Cancer Communication
Jeffrey K. Springston is a professor and associate dean for research and graduate studies at the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He is currently working with a second multi-million dollar grant from the National Cancer Institute regarding consumer communication strategies and behaviors during cancer treatment.
Jeffrey Springston
http://www.uga.edu/aboutUGA/research-springston.html
706/542-7833
jspring@uga.edu
About the UGA Cancer Center
Founded in 2004, the University of Georgia Cancer Center is comprised of more than 50 teams of researchers from across campus that are pursuing research that aims to improve cancer prevention and treatment. The center is exploring new diagnostic tests and treatments, working to improve cancer prevention messages and the quality of life of patients and survivors. To learn more, see www.uga.edu/cancercenter.
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