Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer, a disease in which malignant cells form in the tissues of the breast, is the most common type of cancer (other than skin cancer) among women.  Less than 1 percent of breast cancers occur in men. The risk of getting breast cancer increases with age, and inherited gene mutations or a family history of breast cancer may increase the risk.

At Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, our breast cancer experts deliver excellent patient care in a research context.  Our Comprehensive Breast Health Services (CBHS) facility in Dublin, Ohio, about 20 minutes from The James and the main Ohio State campus, evaluates and treats more than 500 breast cancer patients annually.

CBHS medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists are specialists in breast cancer.  CBHS Co-Directors Charles Shapiro, MD, and William Farrar, MD, are nationally recognized by their peers as being among the “Best Doctors in America,” “Top Doctors in America,” and the “Best Cancer Doctors in America.”

Physicians and researchers at the OSUCCC – James work together to make important discoveries that establish new approaches to breast cancer.  Examples include:

• William Carson, MD: Making standard therapies work better by enhancing the immune system IL-12, herceptin, paclitaxel
• Pravin Kaumaya, PhD: HER2 peptide vaccine
• Barbara Andersen, PhD: Stress and immunity project that evaluates the effect of stress on immune function in breast cancer survivors
• Electra Paskett, PhD, MsPH: Lymphedema and other survivorship issues in breast cancer survivors
• Charles Shapiro, MD: Osteoporosis in young women with breast cancer; incorporating biologic agents in combination with known breast cancer chemotherapy drugs (paclitaxel and bortezumab, paclitaxel and suramin, docetaxel and bevacizumab)
• Richard Love, MD: Effects of ovarian ablation in breast cancer

Preclinical studies include:

• Lisa Yee, MD: Effects of omega-3 fatty acids on HER-2 overexpressing breast cancers
• Jessie Au, PharmD, PhD: Effects of low-dose suramin on improving taxane anti-tumor activity
• Ching-Shih Chen, PhD: Making tamoxifen work in estrogen-receptor-negative patients
• Carlo Croce, MD: The importance of microRNAs in breast cancer

In addition, our Clinical Cancer Genetics Program as it applies to evaluating high-risk breast cancer patients is unique to Ohio State.  We are also actively developing the Spielman Breast Cancer Tissue Archive, representing more than 2,000 breast cancers. These will be used to develop a tissue microarray that will enable us to evaluate genetic and molecular changes of potential importance to breast cancer. The risk of getting cancer increases with age, and inherited gene mutations or a family history of cancer may increase the risk. Knowledge is Power: Visit Clinical Cancer Genetics to learn more.

This section of the Jamesline.com Web site will give you access to:

• Detailed information about breast cancer
• The breast cancer treatment team at The James
• Tests and treatments available at The James
• Support groups and classes
• Links to other cancer information Web sites
• Answers to frequently asked questions about breast cancer

If you have questions about breast cancer, please call The James Line – a free cancer information resource and physician referral service – at (614) 293-5066 or 1-800-293-5066 (outside Franklin County) or e-mail now.  The James Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is staffed by oncology nurses who are here to help you with your concerns about cancer weekdays from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. View The James' breast cancer fact sheet.