Grant: Operating Grant - Priority Announcement: Breast Cancer

Targeting estrogen receptor (ER) with tamoxifen, is successful in treating and preventing breast cancer. Nevertheless, such therapies are limited due to resistance. Newer therapies, targeting ER, are also likely limited by development of resistance. Understanding the mechanisms of ER action holds promise for further increasing the approaches to treat ER+ breast cancer, the most frequent type of breast cancer. The more targets, the more likely the disease can be controlled. The development of more precise biomarkers of therapy response is valuable, so that the most appropriate therapies can be used quickly with minimal side-effects. We discovered that certain combinations of chemical changes called phosphorylation, on the surface of ER are more accurate biomarkers of prognosis than those currently used. We don't think these changes occur in normal breast cells. Therefore the enzymes that cause these changes are ideal targets for developing new endocrine therapies for treating and preventing breast cancer.