It's estimated that one in eight women in the United States will have breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer deaths in women. In 2001, more than 40,000 women died of breast cancer in the United States.
Using a federal grant of nearly $5 million, MSU will be one of four new Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Centers in the country. The centers are funded jointly by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute, both agencies of the National Institutes of Health.
The four national centers will network and interact as a single program. Its first goal: to increase understanding of the development of normal mammary tissue during puberty and to help determine what environmental factors could increase cancer risk in adulthood. Environmental exposures will include not only pollutants, but also nutritional and lifestyle factors.
"At MSU, we'll focus on environmental and dietary factors that would have an effect on hormonal activity or could influence breast development," said Sandra Haslam, a professor of physiology who is leading MSU's part in the project. "We'll be examining environmental exposures that affect the expression and function of estrogen and progesterone receptors in mouse models. In particular, we will focus on the role of progesterone in breast development and as a risk factor for breast cancer.
"I've spent most of my career studying hormonal regulation of breast development. In addition, colleagues from several MSU colleges will be making significant contributions."
Among those colleges are human medicine, communication arts and sciences, natural sciences, and agriculture and natural resources.
Haslam said MSU not only has a wealth of experience in this field, but also has important community ties that will contribute greatly to this project. Reaching out to the community and sharing information is a critical aspect of this project, she said.
The center will include a community outreach and translation core group that will seek input from community breast cancer advocacy groups to address their concerns. This core will develop educational materials as researchers find answers to early life exposures and their subsequent impact on breast cancer risk.
"The community advocates will play an active part in outreach activities that translate the results of the research into improved understanding, diagnosis and prevention of breast cancer," Haslam said. "It's very important that we share any and all of our scientific findings with the public and policy makers."
Community advocates who will participate in the project include representatives from the Michigan Department of Community Health; the Michigan Environmental Council; the American Cancer Society's Great Lakes Division; the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; and Faith Access to Community Economic Development, a faith-based nonprofit that provides services to address comprehensive needs – physical, mental and spiritual – of residents of Flint and Genesee County.
Other institutions taking part in the project include the University of Cincinnati; the University of California, San Francisco; and the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.