Breast Cancer

The truth about breast cancer myths

Mary Cunningham — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:52:48 +0000

The truth about breast cancer myths Mary Cunningham Mon, 09/26/2022 - 11:52

In This Story

Michelle S. Williams, assistant professor in the Department of Global and Community Health, shares important facts about breast cancer that are often misconstrued or misunderstood.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in the United States. Each year in the United States, approximately 264,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and about 42,000 women die each year from breast cancer. Men can also develop breast cancer, although it is not as common.

Michelle S. Williams, assistant professor in the Department of Global and Community Health,

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), Michelle S. Williams, assistant professor in the Department of Global and Community Health, shares important facts about breast cancer that are often misconstrued or misunderstood. Williams’ research focuses on developing culturally appropriate health behavior interventions for cancer prevention and control that will lead to a reduction in cancer disparities. She is available for further comment on breast cancer prevention and early detection.

“Based on my research, many women are misinformed about breast cancer risk factors. Many women also have fears and misconceptions about mammograms,” says Williams. “Understanding your individual risks for breast cancer, obtaining age- and risk-appropriate breast cancer screenings regularly, and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviors can lead to reductions in breast cancer mortality.”

Myth: A mammogram can cause or spread breast cancer.
Truth: Mammograms do not cause or spread breast cancer. Annual mammograms are a powerful tool to detect breast cancer early. Women with an average risk for breast cancer should get a mammogram annually starting at age 40. A health care provider may recommend them earlier if other factors make a woman’s risk for breast cancer higher than average. All women should exam their breasts monthly and report any breast changes their health care provider.

Myth: You can only get breast cancer if you have a family history of breast cancer.
Truth: Any women can develop breast cancer, regardless of family history. In fact, only about 10% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a family history. An individual’s risk for breast cancer may be higher if they have a first-degree family member (female or male) who developed breast or ovarian cancer. Knowing your family history of breast cancer is important. Women with a family history of breast cancer may seek genetic counseling to assess their risk.

Myth: Breast cancer only affects women; Men don’t get breast cancer.
Truth: Men can also get breast cancer. In the U.S., approximately 2,400 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and about 500 men die from breast cancer each year.

Myth: Breast cancer only affects post-menopausal women.
Truth: Breast cancer can affect women of any age. It is important to note that, the risk of breast cancer increases as a woman gets older.

Myth: If I have breast cancer, I will be able to feel a lump in my breast.
Truth: A lump in the breast is just one of the many signs and symptoms of breast cancer. Breast cancer signs and symptom can vary for each individual. Swelling of the breast, irritation of the breast skin, redness of breast or nipple, nipple discharge, change in size or shape, or pain in the breast are additional breast cancer signs and symptoms. Women should see a health care provider they feel or see any change in their breasts.

Myth: There’s nothing I can do to prevent breast cancer.
Truth: There are ways you can decrease your risk for breast cancer. Making healthy lifestyle choices including not smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, and exercising regularly can help to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.

Dr. Michelle S. Williams is an assistant professor in the Department of Global and Community Health at ��AV. Williams’ research is focused on developing culturally appropriate health behavior interventions for cancer prevention and control that will lead to a reduction in cancer disparities. Her research interests include cancer prevention behaviors, Community-Based Participatory Research, qualitative research, and the design and conduct of mixed method studies. Currently, she is conducting studies aimed at developing and evaluating mhealth (mobile health) to reduce cancer disparities in the Deep South region of the United States and in low- and middle-income countries.

For media inquiries about Mason’s faculty experts in cancer research and prevention, contact Michelle Thompson at 703-993-3485 or mthomp7@gmu.edu.

About Mason

��AV, Virginia’s largest public research university, enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason has grown rapidly over the last half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity, and commitment to accessibility. In 2022, Mason celebrates 50 years as an independent institution. Learn more at http://www.gmu.edu.

About the College of Health and Human Services

The College of Health and Human Services prepares students to become leaders and to shape the public's health through academic excellence, research of consequence, community outreach, and interprofessional clinical practice. The College enrolls more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students in its nationally-recognized offerings, including 6 undergraduate degrees, 13 graduate degrees, and 6 certificate programs. The college is transitioning to a college of public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/.

Thumbnail photo by Olya Kobruseva via pexels.

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A $1.57 million grant funds breakthrough breast cancer prevention and treatment research

Colleen Rich — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 17:25:03 +0000

A $1.57 million grant funds breakthrough breast cancer prevention and treatment research Colleen Rich Mon, 03/14/2022 - 13:25

In This Story

Naoru Koizumi

Mason researcher Milton Brown is one of only a handful of physician scientists in the United States that holds a PhD in synthetic chemistry and a medical degree. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

A $1.57 million grant from the Department of Army, U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, will help support a transformative approach for breast cancer treatment developed by scientists in ��AV’s Center for Drug Discovery for Rare Diseases. This approach will help individuals at a higher risk for developing tumors and those for whom therapeutics have failed to treat the disease.

This effort, led by Milton Brown, MD, center co-director and professor of practice in Mason's College of Science, aims to define the structural features and binding characteristics of BRCA1—a tumor suppressing protein to the estrogen receptor in breast cancer stem cells.

BRCA1 regulates critical cell processes needed for normal breast cell function. The National Cancer Institute reports that one in every 500 women in the United States has a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. Women who test positive for a BRCA1 mutation are more likely to develop tumors over time and are at a higher risk for developing breast and ovarian cancer.

The Mason research team includes, from left, Yali Kong, Farhang Alem, Kan Wang, with Milton Brown (center). Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Over the next three years, the Mason team, which includes chemist Yali Kong, tumor biologist Kan Wang, MD, and assistant director of scientific operations Farhang Alem, will work to develop a therapeutic drug that helps replace BRCA1 in women who are deficient, and provide a major unmet medical need by offering another therapy option for patients that become resistant to tamoxifen—one of the oldest hormonal therapies.

“A therapeutic like this would help hundreds of thousands of women,” said Brown, who is one of only a handful of physician scientists in the United States that holds a PhD in synthetic chemistry and a medical degree. “Some women who test positive for the mutation select to have their breasts and ovaries removed in order to avoid the risk of getting cancer. Imagine instead, these women would simply be able to take a pill, and it’s like having BRCA1 again.”

The team is also developing a novel approach to treating breast cancer by identifying a BRCA1-mutant stem cell responsible for metastasizing and invading other parts of the body. According to Brown, these breast cancer stem cells, or stem-like cells, are hard to find and, if left behind after removing a tumor, will cause the cancer to reoccur.

Brown’s team will use a protein called DCLK1 to identify and target these cells, which can enhance the drug treating BRCA1-deficient patients to also have the ability to find and kill these specific cancer stem or stem-like cells. Such a treatment would eliminate the need for more invasive procedures like mastectomies and provide an alternative for patients resistant to other drug, chemo, and radiation therapies.

“This is personalized, precision medicine targeting a specific type of cancer cell,” said Brown. “Our strategy can benefit both patient populations—those with cancer and those without.”

Other members of this grant include Mason statistician Naoru Koizumi; breast cancer expert Robert Clarke from the University of Minnesota; cancer pathologist Bashkar Kallakury, MD, from Georgetown University; renown DCLK1 expert Courtney Houchen, MD, from the University of Oklahoma; and Elaine North and Juliann Bryant who are a part of Mason’s sponsored programs.

Submission and award data for the FY21 DoD Breast Cancer Breakthrough Awards show that only 6.1% of 493 applications were recommended for funding.

“I feel so honored to work with the scientists on this multi-institutional research team and to be selected for this meritorious breast cancer breakthrough award,” said Brown. “If we accomplish this, this will be a life-changing breakthrough for women.”

Topics

College of Science

Breast Cancer

Research

Bioengineers and biologists team up to battle cancer cells

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 18:41:07 +0000

Bioengineers and biologists team up to battle cancer cells Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/21/2021 - 14:41

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Remi Veneziano

Bioengineers—like Remi Veneziano—find solutions to some of the world’s grand problems. But sometimes, it takes collaboration with scientists to find out the questions that need to be answered to properly apply and maximize these engineering solutions.

Veneziano, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Computing, is partnering with Amanda Haymond, a research assistant professor in the School of Systems Biology, to apply DNA nanotechnology to create a drug that boosts the immune response to fight breast cancer.

Amanda Haymond is a research assistant professor in the School of Systems Biology in the College of Science.

Their work entitled “New Hybrid Molecular Modalities Comprised of DNA-Origami and Interfering Peptides as Inhibitors of Protein-Protein Interactions” received a grant of nearly $530,000 from the National Institutes of Health’s Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies program, which funds explicitly creative technologies for cancer detection or treatment. “There are two big things we are trying to do with this work, one is to answer a biological question, and the other is to provide a proof of concept for a new drug modality,” says Haymond.

On the biology side, Veneziano and Haymond are looking to target a specific protein’s complex. When a body is infected with cancer, a protein called IL-33 will signal the immune system to flood the cancerous area with immune cells to combat cancer and stop further damage. “However, in a chronic inflammatory cancer context, the flood of IL-33 can recruit a number of other cell types, including MDSCs, that are activated by binding to IL-33 and tamp down on the immune response,” says Haymond.

The influx of suppressive immune cells can be detrimental as the body stops fighting the cancer. In addition, the protein structure created from the interaction of IL-33 and MDSCs is quite large, which makes it difficult to target with conventional small molecule drugs. This is where Veneziano’s work in DNA nanotechnology comes in.

“With the technology we are developing, instead of testing multiple drug combinations for efficiency, we can take into consideration the structural parameters of the protein we are trying to target, and use DNA nanotechnology to build rigid nanoscale objects that would have the same dimensions and organization as the protein to target multiple sites of the protein simultaneously,” says Veneziano.

Remi Veneziano is using his DNA nanotechnology to test a new drug modality to fight breast cancer.

Therefore, the drugs they are developing will act as adaptors that will prevent the proteins from interacting together. Veneziano’s nanotechnology research makes it possible to precisely target multiple sites on these proteins concurrently to increase the success of their drug. So, instead of using three separate drugs that possibly won’t work in tandem properly to prevent this immune response, Haymond and Veneziano are developing a new drug modality that is exactly designed with the target in mind.

Veneziano is hopeful that this process could be completely automated, making it easier to target certain proteins to combat different types of cancer and diseases. This expansion will require even more collaboration between scientists and engineers in the future, Haymond and Veneziano say.

“This work can’t be done by bioengineers or biologists independently. It takes synergy between the two of us, and Mason and its institutes promote these types of collaborations,” says Veneziano.

Topics

Bioengineering

biology

School of Systems Biology

Department of Bioengineering

Breast Cancer

cancer research

CEC faculty research

Urban Health Today (video): Dr. Michelle Williams discusses African American breast cancer survivors in the Deep South.

eander6 — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 18:12:26 +0000

Urban Health Today (video): Dr. Michelle Williams discusses African American breast cancer survivors in the Deep South. eander6 Wed, 07/07/2021 - 14:12

In This Story

Michelle S. Williams, PhD, MSPH

Dr. Michelle Williams Discusses African American BC Survivors in the Deep South & CVD Risk.

Topics

College of Health and Human Services

College of Health and Human Services Department of Global and Community Health

African American Breast Cancer Survivor Cardiovascular Disease Risk High but Knowledge Low

dhawkin — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:45:20 +0000

African American Breast Cancer Survivor Cardiovascular Disease Risk High but Knowledge Low dhawkin Fri, 03/05/2021 - 09:45

In This Story

Michelle S. Williams, PhD, MSPH

New research led by ��AV’s College of Health and Human Services faculty Dr. Michelle Williams found that although African American breast cancer survivors have a higher prevalence of CVD risk factors, their knowledge about CVD is low.

African American breast cancer survivors are four times more likely to die from breast cancer than women of all other races and ethnicities, and they have a disproportionately high rate of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD).

New research led by ��AV’s College of Health and Human Services faculty Dr. Michelle Williams assessed African American breast cancer survivors’ risk factors and knowledge about CVD in the Deep South, where health disparities between African American women and women of other races is even larger. They found that although African American breast cancer survivors have a higher prevalence of CVD risk factors, their knowledge about CVD is low.

The study was published in the Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice in February.

Specifically, participants scored low on knowledge about heart attack symptoms and CVD-related medical information. Participants with healthier diets and higher levels of education had higher levels of CVD knowledge.

“We know that several CVD risk factors, such as hypertension and obesity, can be modified through lifestyle behavior changes,” adds Williams. “This is promising, but breast cancer survivors must be better informed about CVD risk by their health care providers.”

Their study included surveys of 70 breast cancer survivors who identified as African American or Black in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Georgia.

“Our findings highlight the importance of informing African American breast cancer survivors about their increased risk for co-morbidities such as CVD and providing them with access to culturally appropriate CVD risk reduction interventions aimed at a variety of education levels,” explains Williams.

Williams and colleagues are currently conducting the next phase of the study, which will provide more in-depth information about CVD risk factors among African American breast cancer survivors.

This research was supported by a grant from the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research to the University of Mississippi Medical Center (Grant Number U54 GM115428).

About ��AV

��AV is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. For more information, visit https://www2.gmu.edu/.

About the College of Health and Human Services

��AV's College of Health and Human Services prepares students to become leaders and shape the public's health through academic excellence, research of consequence, community outreach, and interprofessional clinical practice. George Mason is the fastest-growing Research I institution in the country. The College enrolls more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,370 graduate students in its nationally-recognized offerings, including: 5 undergraduate degrees, 13 graduate degrees, and 7 certificate programs. The college is transitioning to a college of public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/.

Topics

Breast Cancer

cardiovascular disease

Health Disparities

College of Health and Human Services

College of Health and Human Services Department of Global and Community Health

CHHS Research

CHHS News

Center for Health Equity