Christine Ambrosone, MD, Chair of Cancer Prevention and Control at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), has received a grant for $165,000 from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to study the possible link between race and the possibility of being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancers.

African-American women are more likely than European-Americans or Asians to be diagnosed with aggressive breast cancers and to have poor survival rates. It is hypothesized that robust immune/inflammatory responses evolved among Africans in response to endemic infectious diseases such as malaria. As a result, over the years the immune system in these women has been programmed to best protect the woman throughout her reproductive years. After that, the immune system becomes hyper-inflammatory, which is related to more aggressive breast cancers among African-American women.

The study will use data and samples from the Women's Circle of Health Study, an on-going case-control study of breast cancer in African-American and European-American women. It is hoped results of this study would open new areas for investigation regarding the basic biology of the relationship between immune factors and aggressive breast cancer.

The mission of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. RPCI, founded in 1898, was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation's leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs.

Source: Roswell Park Cancer Institute