BAY AREA BREAST CANCER TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAM

This application for a SPORE in breast cancer represents a collaboration
between the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and the
California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC). The proposal places a high
priority on translational research both in the specific projects described
and in proposals for future projects utilizing developmental research and
career development funds. Projects have been identified which place
considerable emphasis on increasing our understanding of the events which
lead up to invasion and metastases and on the development of strategies to
prevent the disease or intervene very early in the disease process. In
general the proposal has avoided studies using conventional modes of
treatment, including high dose chemotherapy and endocrine therapy, since
studies of these modalities are better conducted within the context of the
cooperative groups. The SPORE application has been built in collaboration
with a successful program project grant for breast cancer, and while
personnel and resources of the two will be shared, thus strengthening each
program, considerable effort has been taken to design projects which do not
overlap with those in the program project. One of the most important and
central of the proposed Core resources is a tumor tissue bank which will
represent a substantial expansion of a project begun very successfully by
the program project but which has not been able to grow beyond Moffitt-Long
at UCSF because of a lack of funds for technical support in other
hospitals. The strengths of UCSF and the Bay Area in general have been
emphasized, including the many excellent molecular biology and molecular
genetics laboratories, the large and well organized breast screening
programs, and the biotechnology industry in the Bay Area which is likely to
prove important in the translational aspects of this SPORE. Collaborations
have been developed outside of San Francisco to include the human genome
project at Los Alamos and the pathology department at the Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston. It is hoped that a SPORE award will also
strengthen areas relatively underdeveloped in the Bay Area and will
contribute to the development of a cooperative effort in the conduct of
clinical trials and the management of women at high risk of developing
breast cancer. this application consists of four research projects, four
core resources, and a section on developmental research and career
development. The four projects are: #1 The development of tumoricidal,
membrane receptor targeted, breast cancer therapy; #2 Analysis of gene
deletion and amplification in human breast cancer; #3 Molecular markers
defining groups of women at unusually high risk of developing breast
cancer; #4 Therapeutic Blockade of the Urokinase Receptor. The four cores
are: #1 Human fresh tissue bank; #2 An animal facility; #3 Epidemiology
and biostatistics; #4 Clinical core. Each project has developed a distinct
plan for clinical application, and it is anticipated that each will begin
(and in some cases) complete a clinical protocol growing out the project
within the three years of the grant.