Arteaga awarded $600,000 to study breast cancer therapy resistance
DALLAS – Sept. 25, 2018 – The Susan G. Komen organization has awarded a $600,000 research grant to Dr. Carlos Arteaga, Director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Dean of Oncology Programs at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The grant is for Dr. Arteaga to study how estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers become hormone-independent and develop resistance to current anti-estrogen therapies.
The research could lead to more precise treatment plans for breast cancer patients, potentially involving combinations of drug therapies to prevent the development of drug resistance.
While the 5-year survival rate for breast cancer is almost 90 percent, more than 40,000 women still die from breast cancer each year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.
“As cancer detection and treatment have become increasingly sophisticated, mortality for breast cancer has declined, but we must continue to push for still better treatments, including improved understanding of the mechanisms of drug resistance. I believe the next 10 years will be transformative in how we understand and treat cancer, and this grant from Susan G. Komen will contribute greatly to that change,” said Dr. Arteaga, who holds the Lisa K. Simmons Distinguished Chair in Comprehensive Oncology.
The grant to Dr. Arteaga is part of a $26 million investment by the Komen organization for research on drug resistance, triple negative breast cancer, and new treatments such as immunotherapies, as well as funding to reduce cancer health disparities.
Dr. Arteaga is internationally recognized for his work in laboratory-based translational research and advancing the care of breast cancer patients. He has earned numerous accolades from the American Cancer Society, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the Susan G. Komen, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is also a former president of the AACR.
UT Southwestern is recognizing its 75th year in 2018. The Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of 49 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the U.S. and the only one in North Texas, is among just 30 U.S. cancer research centers to be designated by the NCI as a National Clinical Trials Network Lead Academic Participating Site.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 22 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The faculty of more than 2,700 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 105,000 hospitalized patients, nearly 370,000 emergency room cases, and oversee approximately 2.4 million outpatient visits a year.
