As one of the world’s premier cancer centers, Memorial Sloan-Kettering is committed to exceptional patient care, leading-edge research and superb educational programs. The close collaboration between physicians and scientists is one of the Center’s unique strengths, enabling it to provide patients with the best care available today as it works to discover more effective strategies to prevent, control and ultimately cure cancer. The center’s education programs train future physicians and scientists; the knowledge and experience they gain at the Center has an impact on cancer treatment and biomedical research around the world.

Other organizations raise money for breast cancer research in general Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center gets only a piece of the pie; by contrast, funds raised by the CBCF will be devoted entirely to research at MSKCC.

The funds will be used for research on a cure for patients with breast cancer. The melding of research with patient care is at the heart of all of the Center’s activities. At the Sloan-Kettering Institute, state-of-the-art research flourishes side-by-side with clinical investigation and treatment at Memorial Hospital, the nation’s oldest cancer hospital. Memorial Sloan-Kettering is also one of 39 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, which reinforces the center’s leadership in research, as well as in patient care and education.

The CBCF was founded to raise money for breast cancer research by Dr. Larry Norton and colleagues at the Manhattan-based Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), one of the world’s foremost cancer research and treatment facilities. CBCF has received non-profit status with the IRS as a 501c3 charity.

The genesis of the CBCF can be traced to Carly Abramson of North Caldwell, New Jersey, who is now 19. After her mother, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer, Carly, who was then 12, made her mother a beaded key ring as a comfort gift. She then decided to sell the key rings to raise money for breast cancer research through BCA Creations, an organization she founded. As a result of the sale of nearly 700 key chains, which she made with the help of friends and family, BCA Creations donated more than $10,000 to Dr. Norton at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, where her mother has been a patient. CBCF was founded in December, 2007, with the help of her father, Andrew Abramson, president and chief executive officer of Value Companies, a leading real estate development investment and management company based in Clifton, New Jersey.

Other organizations raise money for breast cancer research in general Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center gets only a piece of the pie; by contrast, funds raised by the CBCF will be devoted entirely to research at MSKCC.

CBCF is run by a board of trustees consisting Carly Abramson, Heather Abramson, Lauren Abramson Mirman, Andrew and Lisa Abramson, John and Linda Schupper, Pamela Lipkin Sauertig, Patrick M. Mucci and Marc Lenner.

The scientific advisor to the CBCF will be Dr. Larry Norton, who is Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Breast Cancer Programs and the Medical Director of MSK-66th Street, comprised of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center and the Iris Cantor Diagnostic Center. His research concerns the basic biology of cancer, the mathematics of tumor causation and growth and the development of approaches to improve diagnosis, prevention and drug treatment. He is specifically identified, however, with an approach to therapy called “dose density,” which is a new and more effective way of using anticancer drugs that maximizes effectiveness while minimizing toxicity.

CBCF is donating 100% of its net fundraising proceeds to support Dr. Norton and his colleagues research on the theory of breast cancer “self seeding”. The theory of “self seeding” derives from the ground-breaking work in the laboratory of Sloan-Kettering Institute’s Dr. Joan Massague, one of the most accomplished and celebrated biologists of our time. This work has established that the activity of specific gene sets allow cancer cells to spread to specific distant organs (e.g. lung, bone, and brain). Dr. Larry Norton and Dr. Massague hypothesized and then proved in the laboratory that the cancer mass itself may be a “metastatic” site, with circulating cells re-seeding the tumor, enriching it with the worst cancer cells. This novel mechanism explains one of the oldest mysteries in cancer, that tumor growth rates change over time, called Gompertzian growth.

With CBCF support a new mathematical understanding of cancer growth has been developed and applied to the improved scheduling of several effective anti-cancer drugs. One such drug, an oral taxane, is now in clinical trial using the schedule predicted to be best by this method. Another drug is intended to make breast cancer cells that have become resistant to hormonal therapy sensitive again. The development of this mathematical approach is a significant advance in that prior to its creation there was no logical way to use laboratory models to pick optimal schedules to be used in initial clinical trials. The Norton-Massague equation provides an approach to help ameliorate this major impediment to progress.

At present there is much CBCF research underway to better understand the mechanisms and clinical implications of self-seeding. One of these is the study of human cancer cells in mice to see if a particular type of normal white blood cell can prevent seeding. Another will see if irradiated tumors can still attract seeds. Dr. Norton and his colleagues are examining how the self-seeding of the modified primary tumor might inhibit the development of metastases elsewhere. They are also examining the relationship between osteoporosis and the development and progression of breast cancer. In addition, they plan to use CBCF funds to help conduct a study of cancer cells in the blood of patients to see how many of these cells have the genetic markers of bone-seeking cancer cells. Based on this work they plan to eventually study specific drugs that attack the molecular basis for bone-seeking.

All of these examples are focused both on improving the understanding of breast cancer and other cancers and the clinical translation of such improved understanding to the better management of these diseases. Significant progress has been accomplished and will proceed thanks to CBCF support.

In addition to the sale of key chains, which Carly continues to make with her friends and family, CBCF had it’s second annual Cure Breast Cancer Foundation Golf Classic in June 2009 at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell,New Jersey. The event attracted nearly 300 participants and raised in excess of $500,000. In addition, a number of individual benefactors have made generous donations to CBCF and several local businesses have sponsored events for the benefit of the Foundation. When combined with the 2008 events, the Foundation has donated in excess of $1,000,000 to Dr. Norton to support his research. CBCF will continue to seek donations from individuals and corporations who want to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. Fund-raising events planned for 2010 include the 3rd Annual CBCF Golf Classic at Mountain Ridge Country Club on June 23rd and CBCF Walks in October.