The Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance and Susan G. Komen are excited to announce the grant recipients of the Susan G. Komen-Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Metastatic Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (mILC) Research Grant.
A founding member of the LBCA, Julia K. Levine, was diagnosed with metastatic lobular breast cancer, also referred to as metastatic invasive lobular carcinoma, in 2012. From almost the moment of her diagnosis, Julia became a tireless advocate for raising awareness about lobular breast cancer and in particular for promoting ILC research and educating and supporting others with mILC.
Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common histologic type of invasive breast cancer and accounts for 10-15% of all breast cancer diagnoses but has been significantly understudied. It is characterized by unique biology, distinct morphological features and an unusual pattern of metastasis that make it difficult to detect and often delay diagnosis. This grant provides critical funding to support innovative research focused on mILC that will unlock new knowledge about lobular breast cancer, advance patient care and/or improve patient outcomes of those impacted by mILC . Applicants were encouraged to build ground-breaking paradigms, test imaginative hypotheses or develop creative concepts that may advance the current prevailing theories or practices for other breast cancer types and/or explore novel areas of investigation for mILC.
The high volume of outstanding submissions led to the awarding of two grants to:
Christina Curtis, PhD, MSc, from Stanford University, who will use cutting-edge technology to study how the tumor microenvironment contributes to metastasis and identify new targets for mILC treatment.
Patrick Derksen, PhD, from the University Medical Center Utrecht, who will use innovative models of ILC to study the molecular pathways controlling tumor dormancy and relapse and identify new treatment strategies for mILC.
The grant awards are effective for a two-year period and are anticipated to begin this Spring.
LBCA Executive Director Laurie Hutcheson shared her excitement over LBCA’s collaboration with Komen that has enabled the organizations together to make these inaugural metastatic ILC research grant awards, stating “We are thrilled to be the first two organizations to together invest significant funding in a metastatic lobular breast cancer research grant program in honor of avid LBCA patient advocate Julia Levine who we lost to this breast disease last year.”
Julia’s husband Michael and son Henry also shared their happiness with this grant program honoring Julia, sharing “Julia would be so pleased and proud that the work that meant so much to her is continuing in her name…with this first ever major grant targeting metastatic ILC. You may have exceeded her dreams.”
Susan G. Komen’s Senior Director of Scientific Strategy & Programs Glendon Zinser emphasized the significance of this collaboration: “Komen is honored to work with the LBCA to support cutting-edge research that will unlock new knowledge about metastatic lobular breast cancer to improve patient care and outcomes.”
Over the next two years LBCA and Komen look forward to following and sharing the progress of these innovative studies.