How You Can Help
The Lynne Cohen High Risk Screening and Prevention Project for Ovarian Cancer and Breast Cancer at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
What does high risk mean?
Approximately 10% of breast cancer patients and 10% of ovarian cancer patients can attribute their disease to inheriting, from their mother or father, a predisposition to developing these cancers. Whereas the risk for a woman in the general population to develop breast cancer is 13%, the risk for a woman with Breast-Ovarian Cancer Syndrome is 80-90%. Similarly, the risk for ovarian cancer for a woman with Breast-Ovarian Syndrome is 40-60%, substantially higher that the 1.5% risk for a woman in the general population. Identifying the women in the high-risk category makes it possible to screen for the disease and to take preventive action.
Meeting the need
The Lynne Cohen Foundation discovered that at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, two physician-researchers, Dr. Banu Arun in the High Risk Breast Screening Clinic and Dr. Karen Lu in the High Risk Ovarian Screening Clinic are successfully running programs to screen and identify large numbers of women at risk and counseling them. The two doctors are also seeing patients in their respective clinics and conducting research. Over a 12-month period, each of the doctors has seen over 300 high-risk visitors in their once-a-week screening clinics.
Overseeing the multi-disciplinary services for high-risk patients—consultation with geneticists, clinicians, surgeons, plastic surgeons, and other scientists—requires committed full-time support personnel. The Lynne Cohen High Risk Screening and Prevention Project provides funding for two coordinators, both research nurses, to take care of scheduling patient visits and testing, interactions of the multidisciplinary team, as well as introducing patients to possible research studies such as MRI breast screening and/or chemoprevention trials.
Directors of the project
Karen Lu, M. D.
Dr Lu is an Associate Professor in Gynecologic Oncology and
Co-Medical Director for Clinical Cancer Genetics.
Dr. Lu is the Co-Principle Investigator of a large nationwide study sponsored by the Gynecologic Oncology Group and the Cancer Genetics Network that is examining new modalities for screening for ovarian cancer in high risk women. This study also is examining quality of life issues in women at high risk who have undergone preventive surgery to decrease ovarian cancer risk.
Banu Arun, M. D.
Dr. Arun is an Associate Professor in Breast Medical Oncology and in Clinical Cancer Prevention and Co-Medical Director for Clinical Cancer Genetics.
At the 2005 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Dr. Arun presented Phase II study results showing the feasibility of acquiring adequate tissue for analysis of biomarkers in high risk breast cancer patients. Ultimately she hopes to show whether bexarotene (Targretin) will suppress breast epithelial cell growth in high-risk women.
Dr. Arun’s work with Celebrex as a cancer prevention drug, one with fewer side-effects and thus a better alternative to tamoxifen, was reported widely in December 2004. Her research project had shown a drop in the level of estrogen-receptor expression among the 40 high-risk women in the small study. This research continues to examine the impact of Celebrex on other risk markers in breast cells.
You may designate specific research or programs on our secure online credit card form.