THE CINCINNATI POST FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, October 23, 2003 Leading the good fight ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Few diseases garner more attention in the United States than breast cancer. Even though heart disease is far more likely to kill women, there is something uniquely vicious about breast cancer. It often strikes women in the prime of their lives, as they're still raising their families and making their mark in the work world. And it is terrifyingly difficult to tell which among the victims will survive. Far too many don't survive. This year, according to the American Cancer Society, more than 212,000 people in the United States (including, it should be noted, some 1,300 men) will develop the disease, and 40,000 will die from it. Among the cancers, breast cancer is the second deadliest killer, behind only lung cancer. The good news is that scientists appear to be making steady progress in their understanding of the disease and in developing effective ways to treat it. The Cincinnati region got some particularly good news in this regard the other day. U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (a leading backer of efforts in Congress to establish regional centers for breast cancer research) and his wife Janet visited Cincinnati to announce that the University of Cincinnati Medical Center will receive a $9.6 million share of a $35-million, seven-year federal grant to study the disease. It is part of a project supervised by the National Institutes of Health that will also involve Michigan State University, the University of California-San Francisco and the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Among other things, the Cincinnati team will investigate evidence suggesting that the way puberty begins in girls might predict their odds of developing breast cancer later in life. The Cincinnati research center will also study environmental factors, from prenatal through adult, to examine possible relationships with breast cancer. A $9.6 million research grant is a big -- and welcome -- boost for the region's medical research program. And the federal money, happily, is not the only source of funds. Governmental grants are being augmented by awards from foundations, which themselves benefit from local fund-raising efforts such as the recent Think Pink luncheon and the Pink Ribbon LPGA Pro-Am golf outing at the Triple Crown Country Club in Northern Kentucky. These may all seem small drops in a very large pond, and perhaps they are. But collectively all this -- the research, the improvements in clinical care, the increased awareness of the importance of early detection and treatment of breast cancer -- offers genuine hope for progress against this deadly disease. close window