LCRC faculty from member institutions Tulane School ofMedicine, LSU Health New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana and OchsnerHealth are making strides in their work to defeat breast cancer. Close to 3,500new diagnoses of breast cancer are expected in Louisiana by the end of this year:

•  Dr. Agustin Garcia,     Section Chief of Hematology Oncology at LSU Health Sciences Center and     a member of the LCRC faculty,  is involved in a national study that     identifies whether a woman's genetic makeup puts her at risk for breast     cancer, using a saliva test. The free test detects specific genes that     increase a woman's risk so she can make more informed decisions about the     frequency of her mammograms and breast cancer screenings. More info.  
 
•  Researchers at Tulane University School of Medicine identified a gene     that causes an aggressive form of breast cancer to rapidly grow.      More importantly, they have also discovered a way to “turn it off” and     inhibit cancer from occurring.  The team led by Dr. Reza     Izadpanah examined the role two genes, including one whose involvement in     cancer was discovered by Tulane researchers, play in causing triple     negative breast cancer, considered to be the most aggressive of breast     cancers, More info. 
 
• Xavier University of     Louisiana  are working on alternatives to the breast cancer     hormonal therapy Tamoxifen.  Dr. Guangdi Wang leads a team of drug     discovery researchers funded by National Institutes of Health RCMI and     SBIR grants at Xavier that are developing novel anti-estrogens that do not     require metabolism to be activated or that degrade the estrogen receptor.       LCRC Scientific Assoc. Director Dr. Thomas Wiese directs core     facilities that perform mechanistic screening of drug candidates from Dr.     Wang.  These new cancer therapies have the potential to be effective     in more patients, at more stages of breast cancer.  New Orleans-based     biomedical company Zenopharm     was established to begin the next phase of drug development.  The     company recently received $4 million from cancer research company Enhanced     Bio to fund the first phase of clinical trials through November     2021.   

The OchsnerCancer Institute is currently conducting clinical trials investigatingsupportive measures such as nausea prevention, protecting the heart fromchemotherapy toxicity and assisting weight loss in breast cancer patients. Theyalso offer new therapies for a variety of breast cancers includingimmunotherapy trials in early and later stage triple negative breast cancer,new drug combinations in HER2 breast cancer with tucatinib and CDK 4/6 inhibitors.More info.