Breast CAncer REsearch at duke University

Thank you for your generous support. Your partnership is accelerating our progress in our mission to discover, develop, and deliver the future of cancer care…now.

Here are just a few examples of Duke Cancer Institute breast cancer research that benefits from the generosity of the Chapel Hill Breast Cancer Foundation.

  • Shelley Hwang, MD, chief of breast surgery, leads the nation’s first prospective, randomized clinical trial to compare the benefits of surgery or monitoring for low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), sometimes called “Stage 0” breast cancer, in which abnormal cells are found in the lining of the milk ducts, but haven’t spread to other tissues. If monitoring is found to be effective for some women, adopting this practice could spare thousands of women the pain, trauma, and expense of intrusive therapies.

  • Rebecca Shelby, PhD, Director of Education and Training for the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program, and Gretchen Kimmick, MD, MS, associate professor of medicine, have launched a clinical trial to test an intervention they created to help breast cancer survivors living with diabetes better manage the disease. They hope the intervention, called I HEAL — Improving Health Engagement and Lifestyle Management for Breast Cancer Survivors with Diabetes  — will lead to significant improvements in clinical care and patient outcomes. An estimated 20 percent of the 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S. also have Type 2 diabetes. These women are at high risk for cancer recurrence, serious health complications, and premature death. In addition, they experience more severe, disabling symptoms and psychological distress than breast cancer survivors without diabetes.   

  • Ann Marie Pendergast, PhD, the Anthony R. Means Cancer Biology Professor, is conducting pilot studies to better understand the signaling pathways that help breast cancer spread (metastasize) to the brain. She has found ways to use a particular drug to inhibit a pathway that leads to breast cancer metastasis in general, and she is testing this inhibitor in mice to find out if it can stop metastasis to the brain in particular. Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death for women worldwide, and metastases, including brain metastases, account for the vast majority of deaths from breast cancer.

Where  your donations go

100% of the funds donated to the Chapel Hill Breast Cancer Foundation go directly to supporting discovery phase breast cancer research projects at Duke, UNC and Wake Forest Universities.
Your past donations are making a difference today.  
Today's donations will make a difference tomorrow.