USC breast cancer experts available
USC leads the fight against breast cancer as researchers and clinicians advance solutions, including cutting-edge science, discount mammograms and new technologies. Their work coincides with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. About 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 41,000 die from the disease annually, according to the American Cancer Society. Here’s what USC is doing about it.
Contact: Gary Polakovic (213) 740-9226 or polakovi@usc.edu.
What can women do?
Going to the doctor annually is powerful in guarding against breast cancer.
“The key to survival is early detection, so get your yearly mammogram,” said Dr. Maria Nelson, assistant professor of surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “One in 8 women will be affected by breast cancer in her lifetime, which makes many women scared of getting checked. Yet, if caught early, the survival rate is more than 98 percent.”
Nelson leads two free “Let’s Talk Breast Cancer” sessions this month:
- Noon to 1 p.m., Oct. 17, at the Crescenta Canada Family YMCA, 1930 Foothill Blvd., La Canada Flintridge, Calif.
- 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Oct. 29, La Crescenta Public Library, 2809 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta, Calif.
To register for the sessions, call (818) 952-2228 or visit this website.
Also, $99 mammograms are available to the public during October at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. You’ll need a reservation and a doctor’s order. For details, call (818) 952-2266 or visit this website.
Contact: nels344@usc.edu or (323) 865-3535
How is technology helping fight breast cancer?
USC researchers use machine learning to diagnose breast tumor molecular features faster, which is key to quicker prognosis and treatment. They’ve taught a computer to assess tumors and identify which ones were more susceptible to targeted treatment. The findings, published last month, mark a big step beyond using microscopes and cell biopsies, said David Agus, professor at the Keck School of Medicine and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. He is also CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC.
“We can use this technology to identify better personalized treatments for cancer, get information to patients faster and hopefully help more people worldwide. We’re unleashing this power to give new information to physicians to more effectively treat cancer,” Agus said.
Contact: agus@usc.edu or (310) 272-7640
What about bacon?
Bacon is popular, tasty and not good for you — especially if you’re Latina.
“There is an association between processed meat and breast cancer for Latinas,” said Mariana C. Stern, professor in the division of cancer epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine. She recently published a studyshe calls a “wake-up call about negative health effects associated with consuming processed meat such as bacon, beef jerky and lunch meats.”
Latinas who consumed 20 grams of processed meat (about one strip of bacon daily) were 42 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer compared to Latinas who ate little or no processed meats, according to the study. The research included 7,000 women participants in California and the West. The scientists are not sure why this happens, but it’s consistent with the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared processed meat a carcinogen. Stern was a member of the WHO panel that reviewed processed meat and cancer. Her work on the subject continues.
Contact: marianas@usc.edu or (323) 865-0811
Is there a way to pinpoint cancer treatment?
Scientists at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience are creating a new tool similar to the Waze app for cancer. It gives patients the power to work with physicians to ensure the best possible treatment outcomes for their individual disease. It’s part of a larger program that includes a collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to build computational models that predict how breast cancer patients respond to specific treatments based on characteristics of their cancer and their health.
“We should be able to delineate which patients will respond to a treatment and which patients won’t for each individual patient,” said Peter Kuhn, dean’s professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “Currently, treatment plans are designed according to how a population has responded to a treatment. We can get much greater accuracy thorough a detailed analysis of the patient.” Kuhn is also director of the USC Michelson Convergent Science Initiative in Cancer (CSI-CANCER).
Contact: pkuhn@usc.edu or (213) 821-3980
Does exercise help?
Keeping fit is always a good idea, but for breast cancer survivors it can be the difference between life and death.
“Many people do not know the no. 1 cause of death for breast cancer survivors is heart disease, not cancer,” said Christina Dieli-Conwright, assistant professor of research in the division of biokinesiology and physical therapy at the Ostrow School of Dentistry. “So, exercise is a form of medicine.” She regularly works with patients from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center.
Regular exertion helps reduce risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and possible breast cancer recurrence. While 9 of 10 women with breast cancer remain alive at least five years after they were diagnosed, they tend to gain weight during treatment, so exercise helps thwart obesity, Dieli-Conwright said. She contiues research into health benefits of exercise for cancer survivors.
Contact: cdieli@usc.edu or (323) 442-2905
