Race for the Cure: Komen funding innovative breast cancer research in North Texas
PLANO — This weekend, the streets of Plano will be filled with pink for the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The event raises tens of thousands of dollars towards eradicating breast cancer, including groundbreaking research happening in North Texas.
"What we're able to do is take tumors from people and miniaturize them, so we can study them in a petri dish," said Dr. Isaac Chan, an assistant professor of internal medicine and molecular biology at UT Southwestern. "We can actually monitor how aggressive a tumor is."
Dr. Chan's research team is working to create models that reveal how cancer cells spread and why immune systems fail.
"We're really on the cusp of personalized immunotherapy because if we can understand how your immune system reacts to your cancer, we can design drugs that will activate your immune system to fight breast cancer better," Dr. Chan said.
It's one of several research projects and clinical studies concerning breast cancer at UT Southwestern.
"Research is critically important in order to innovate to improve on detection, to improve on treatments," said Dr. Heather McArthur, the clinical director of breast cancer research. "And as we've seen in a recent report from the American Cancer Society, the rate of mortality from breast cancer has gone down more than 40% in recent decades, and that's a direct reflection of innovation and research."
Much of that innovation and research is made possible by funding from the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation.
"For the past 40 years, we've been able to issue out $1.1 billion in research, which is incredible," said Sofia Olivarez, executive director for Susan G. Komen Dallas. "That equals things like grants, technologies, advancements in care, and some amazing lifesaving medicines."
Komen played a role in the development of all 19 breast cancer drugs approved by the FDA since 2012.
Every step in the Race for the Cure is truly helping people live longer, healthier lives. Money raised by Komen also goes toward patient care, which includes financial assistance, a helpline, and other support services.
"We're one way before breast cancer and then once we get through it, it makes you appreciate so much more," said breast cancer survivor Patricia Johnson. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016.
"And I just really didn't know very many people who had gone through it," she said. "So it was very shocking."
Komen not only helped Johnson find resources to pay for unexpected expenses during treatment, the organization also connected her to a support system.
"I want somebody else to have that opportunity to be able to be helped," she said.
Johnson helps raise money for Komen every year, knowing exactly where her dollars will go.
"The funding from Susan G. Komen is essential, critical to the work we're doing across multiple labs," said Dr. Chan. "And so we're very grateful for that because without funding, research doesn't continue and research is hope."
Hope that one day, there will be a cure.