Susan G. Komen®, the world’s largest nonprofit funder of breast cancer research outside the U.S. government, today hailed work led by Komen Scholar and Promise Grant Recipient Dr. Matthew Ellis, MB, BChir., Ph.D., FRCP and Komen-funded researcher Shyam Kavuri, Ph.D., which could help improve outcomes for patients with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer. Their research, published today in Nature Communications, identified several mutations that have never before been associated with poor outcomes in ER+ breast cancer patients – information that could help better direct treatment and guide future clinical trials to prevent breast cancer recurrence and mortality.
“Understanding how ER+ breast cancers develop and recur, and how to stop them, is absolutely vital,” said Victoria Wolodzko, SVP, Mission for Komen. “This work has the potential to transform care for patients facing ER+ disease at all stages, which will contribute significantly to our efforts to reduce the current number of breast cancer deaths in the U.S. by half by 2026.”
“Many women and men who have faced breast cancer and have been told they are ‘cancer-free’ live in fear of their cancer returning. For some, that fear will become a reality. It’s unacceptable,” said Paula Schneider, President and CEO of Komen. “That’s why we’re proud to fund researchers like Dr. Ellis who are finding new ways to identify patients at the highest risk of poor outcomes, so we can intervene earlier and save lives.”
To date, Komen has invested more than $956 million in breakthrough breast cancer research – the largest nonprofit breast cancer research investment outside of the U.S. government. Read more about this groundbreaking research from Baylor College of Medicine.
About Susan G. Komen®
Susan G. Komen is the world’s largest breast cancer organization, funding more breast cancer research than any other nonprofit outside of the federal government while providing real-time help to those facing the disease. Komen has set a Bold Goal to reduce the current number of breast cancer deaths by 50 percent in the U.S. by 2026. Since its founding in 1982, Komen has funded more than $956 million in research and provided more than $2.1 billion in funding to screening, education, treatment and psychosocial support programs serving millions of people in more than 60 countries worldwide. Komen was founded by Nancy G. Brinker, who promised her sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would end the disease that claimed Suzy’s life. That promise has become Komen’s promise to all people facing breast cancer. Visit komen.org
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