CAPER/BREAST CANCE · CAPER in Invasive Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a major cause of death in the United States and the Western World. Advanced medical technologies and therapeutic strategies are necessary for the successful detection, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. Here, we propose to use novel technologies (tissue microarrays (TMA) and automated quantivative bioimaging (AQUA)) to identify new therapeutic and prognostic markers for human breast cancer. More specifically, we will study the activation status of a new signaling pathway which we have implicated in breast cancer pathogenesis, using both mouse animal models and cells in culture. For this purpose, we will study the association of CAPER expression with pre-malignant lesions and progression from pre-malignancy to full-blown breast cancer. We expect that this new molecular marker will allow us to improve diagnostic accuracy for individual patients, enhancing both the prognostic predictions as well as the prediction of drug responsiveness for a given patient.