Grant Title: Advancing our understanding of the etiologies and mutational landscapes of basal-like, luminal A, and luminal B breast cancers
Study Title: Breast Cancer Risk and Various Outcomes (BRAVO)(2)
Role: Co-Investigator
DOD W81XWH-12-1-0079 (Christopher I. Li, MD & Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD)

The Breast Cancer Risk and Various Outcomes study (BRAVO), is a population-based case-case study, funded by a National Institutes of Health Specialized Research Center Grant (P50). This project is studying the relationship of ancestry and risk factors to the development of specific breast tumor subtypes by evaluating genome-wide gene expression in tumor tissue and ancestry of the Hispanic study participants.

The Porter Lab, under the direction of Dr. Peggy Porter, will test tissue samples for specific breast cancer tumor characteristics that may be related to breast cancer risk factors. Until now, gene-expression subtyping of breast cancer has been based entirely on data from studies of non-Hispanic white women. This study will address that gap by analyzing data from Hispanic breast cancer cases. Disparities in breast cancer survival between racial and ethnic groups have some well-documented social and economic causes. It is possible that differences in tumor biology between groups also contribute to differences in breast cancer outcomes.

In particular, this study is investigating the etiologies and outcomes of two aggressive breast cancer subtypes that disproportionately affect Hispanic women. This work could impact clinical practice and public health by identifying modifiable risk factors related to the incidence and mortality of these tumors, through development of culturally sensitive targeted screening/education programs for women at high risk for these tumors which could lead to earlier diagnosis when tumors are more treatable, and determination of etiologic pathways relevant to these tumor subtypes at a population level can help inform the development of novel treatment and prevention strategies.