Purpose, Intent, and Goals of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) SPORE in Breast Cancer.

The primary goals of the UAB Breast SPORE are to decrease the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of breast cancer. The problem being confronted is enormous. It is estimated that 40,110 women in the United States will die from this cancer in 2004. While some advances have been made in therapy, overall progress in confronting this cancer has been slower than expected. Breast cancer incidence has remained constant (approximately 115 cases per 100,000 female population) since 1987. Breast cancer progression is the result of a multistep process in which the cumulative effect of successive discrete genetic alterations leads to a gradual transition from normal tissue, through premalignancy, to in situ and invasive cancer, and ultimately to metastasis. Reduction in the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of breast cancer may be accomplished through a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying breast cancer development and progression, development of risk, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers, increased knowledge of the signaling networks responsible for breast cancer carcinogenesis, and development of new therapeutic and preventive strategies based on the molecular information. Population-based studies and early stage clinical trials for promising new chemopreventive and therapeutic agents translate this knowledge into the clinical setting, while outcome analysis of breast cancer patient cohorts provides for improved assessment of risk and prognosis.