HJBR Nov/Dec 2024

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  NOV / DEC 2024 57 Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN-CNS, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing The World Health Organization has pro- duced a 2024 fact sheet that provides key facts about the disease as well as an over- view, scope of the problem worldwide, risk factors, signs and symptoms, and current treatments. It can be found at: https:// www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/ detail/breast-cancer Additional information is available at: • National Breast Cancer Founda- tion, Inc.: nationalbreastcancer.org/ breast-cancer-awareness-month/ • Susan G. Komen Foundation: komen. org • BreastCancer.org: breastcancer.org/ about-breast-cancer/breast-cancer- awareness-month n REFERENCES 1 World Health Organization. “WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative: Breast cancer awareness month.” Accessed October 2024. https://www. who.int/news-room/events/detail/2024/10/01/ default-calendar/who-global-breast-cancer- initiative--breast-cancer-awareness-month 2 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “New CDC Data Show Adult Obesity Prevalence Remains High.” News release Sept. 12, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/ p0912-adult-obesity.html 3 Louisiana Cancer Prevention & Control Programs. “Breast Cancer.” Accessed October 2024. https://louisianacancer.org/cancers/ breast-cancer/#:~:text=Breast%20cancer%20 i s % 2 0 t h e % 2 0mo s t % 2 0 f r e q u e n t l y % 2 0 diagnosed%20cancer%20among 4 Breast Cancer Research Foundation. “The Ground We’ve Gained.” Accessed October 2024. https://www.bcrf.org/breast-cancer-research- breakthroughs/ diagnosis, and treatment services. In the intervening years, BCRF has been involved in funding every major advance in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treat- ment. Following are timelines for some of those major research accomplishments: • 1994: Mary-Claire King, PhD, discov- ers the location of the BRCA1 gene. • 1995: An English team of scientists discovers the BRCA2 gene. • 1999: Tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen drug used to treat early and ad- vanced-stage breast cancer, is ap- proved for primary prevention. • 2001: Charles Perou, PhD, classifies breast cancer as a collection of dis- eases based on differing gene pat- terns. • 2003: BCRF researchers identify breast cancer stem cells, initiating further research into targeting these stem cells to prevent breast cancer progression and metastasis. • 2005: BCRF joins with National Can- cer Institute to form BIG-NCTN, the first transatlantic effort to coordinate clinical trials. • 2007: The American Cancer Society recommends high-risk women, such as those carrying BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, to receive MRI screening in addition to mammograms. • 2009: Preventive removal of ovaries, fallopian tubes, and breasts con- firmed to reduce the risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 muta- tion carriers. • 2014: The American Cancer Society reports that deaths from breast can- cer have declined by 38% since 1990. • 2016: BCRF launches Drug Research Collaborative with $15 million grant from Pfizer to bridge the gap between academic investigators and access to drugs in development. By 2021, the program expands to include partic- ipation from Eli Lilly and Company and Astellas Pharma, Inc. • 2021: Based on the KEYNOTE-522 tri- al led by BCRF investigators, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first immunotherapy for treating triple-negative breast cancer. • 2022: BCRF, with support from Es- tée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, launches the Health Eq- uity Initiative to address disparities in breast cancer outcomes between Black and White women. • 2023: BCRF launches the Global Data Hub in collaboration with the Univer- sity of Pittsburgh to share data and analyze massive information for fu- ture discoveries. 4