In a recent Board of Directors meeting the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation voted to fund a 2013 research project in memory of Kathleen Livingston, a courageous inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) pathfinder.  Kathleen was a passionate and tireless advocate.  For three years she represented the Foundation on the National Breast Cancer Coalition's Board of Directors and served as a consumer/patient representative for grant review.  Kathleen was always anxious to learn about new research developments and ready to participate in clinical trials.

For most of her disease course the IBC was confined to the skin or chest wall (skin metastasis) but in spite of many, many treatments the disease would continue to spread across the chest and down her back, severely impacting her quality of life.

Skin metastasis is poorly understood and often very resistant to treatment.  Kathleen participated in many clinical trials in a effort to find something that would stop the spread of her disease, but to no avail.  Because of her commitment to research, as the means to improve outcomes for patients, we want to honor Kathleen's memory with a grant that focuses on the study of skin metastasis of inflammatory breast cancer.

If you'd like to join others who have already  made donations to fund this research grant, make a donation online or send a check or money order payable to: Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation and mail to: IBC Research Foundation, 321 High School Road NE Ste. D3, PMB 149, Bainbridge Island WA 98110. Together let's honor Kathleen through research that tackles this important and neglected problem.

The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation is pleased extend additional grant funding to Dr. Heather Cunliffe, of Translational Genomics (TGen), Phoenix, AZ, to continue her study of triple negative inflammatory breast cancer (TNIBC).

Dr. Cunliffe received a grant of $50,000 in 2011 to pursue molecular characterization of TNIBC.  In a recent conversation Dr. Cunliffe shared her excitement about this research and her hopes to publish data in the coming months. 

Our thanks to Dr. Cunliffe for her diligence, dedication, and desire to improve the lives of those facing inflammatory breast cancer through quality research.  Important research like this, by Dr. Cunliffe is only possible through the continued support of our generous donors.

We asked Dr. Cunliffe to share a overview of her research and future plans with this added funding:       

"Our 2011 proposal funded by IBCRF addressed a significant technical challenge faced by researchers investigating the molecular underpinnings of IBC; that IBC does not commonly present as a solid mass, but instead as diffuse clusters of tumor cells throughout the breast and dermal lymphatics.  This is a confounding factor for genomic investigations of IBC. Funding from the IBCRF allowed us to leverage novel technology developed at TGen that would overcome this barrier. We were successful in isolating purified populations of IBC tumor nuclei away from normal cells of breast tumor specimens. 10 purified IBC tumor samples were subsequently profiled with technology called aCGH, which identifies cancer-specific changes in the genomic landscape at the DNA level. All 10 tumors were of the "triple negative" subtype. At least 5 cancer pathways were identified as strong candidate drivers of disease biology in more than one case, and druggable targets identified for each pathway.  These observations are being functionally validated in 2 laboratory cell line models of triple negative IBC.

To build a successful extension of this study with the intent to accelerate translation of our findings for clinical utility, we wanted to take full advantage of the remaining successfully purified IBC tumor DNA samples, and sequence the genome from one of these patients. We were fortunate that one of the IBC tumors profiled has a matched sample of peripheral blood from which germline (constitutional) DNA can be obtained.  By comparing the tumor DNA sequence with the non-cancerous germline DNA sequence from the same patient, we will be able to define tumor-derived aberrations at maximum resolution, shedding additional light on the likely drivers of malignant progression.  Importantly, with the recent availability of breast tumor sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas Network (CTGA), cross comparison of our findings is likely to reveal IBC-specific aberrations that are not present in triple negative non-IBC, and frequently present in triple negative IBC. TGen is a center for excellence in application of the 'next generation' sequencing technology to be utilized. Thanks to the ongoing support of the IBCRF, and the Milburn Foundation we are enthusiastic to move forward with this study."

Read more about all grants awarded by the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 

 
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine), a new therapy for patients with HER2-positive, late-stage (metastatic) breast cancer.

HER2 is a protein involved in normal cell growth. It is found in increased amounts on some types of cancer cells (HER2-positive), including some breast cancers. In these HER2-positive breast cancers, the increased amount of the HER2 protein contributes to cancer cell growth and survival.

Kadcyla is intended for patients who were previously treated with trastuzumab, another anti-HER2 therapy, and taxanes, a class of chemotherapy drugs commonly used for the treatment of breast cancer."

Read the complete press release.

 
With the close of yet another year comes the task of review and assessment.  As an organization how have we used our time and resources, what have we accomplished, and what are the plans for the future?

It's a daunting task to take all that information and distill it into a document that informs, encourages, and perhaps even inspires!  How to share the accomplishments without boasting, and also include those things that cause sadness and frustration.

As you read the 2012 Annual Report remember that all of us, the Board of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, do our best to be a voice and an active presence in the oncology community for IBC.  We're here to represent you and through our efforts impact the outcomes for those facing IBC.  Thanks for joining us on this often rocky journey.

The mission of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation (ibcRF) is to assist scientists and researchers in their quest to determine the definitive cause(s) of inflammatory breast cancer.  The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation seeks to assist them in their work so effective and meaningful detection and diagnosis, prevention, and treatment can be pursued and achieved.

While Research continues to be the primary goal of the ibcRF, until that research ends the disease we must continue to educate the public as to the signs and symptoms of Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Link to Annual Report 2012