Breast Cancer - Thinking Globally

Author: Benjamin O. Anderson

DCP3 Volume 6 author, Dr. Benjamin Anderson, was featured in the March 28 edition of Science's special edition on breast cancer.  Dr. Anderson's editorial discusses the increased prevelance of breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries and how even resource-stressed countries can "develop evidence-based strategies for breast cancer early detection, diagnosis, and treatment."

The draft version of Dr. Anderson's DCP3 chapter on Breast Cancer is available for review.  Dr. Anderson is a professor of surgery and global health medicine at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Reaserch Center in Seattle, Washington.  He previously served as chair and director of the Breast Health Global Initiative.

Introduction:

Few diseases have seen more rapid scientific progress over the past three decades than breast cancer. Beginning in the 1980s, screening mammography led to sweeping improvements in early cancer detection. At the same time, endocrine treatment and systemic chemotherapy proved life-saving. The development of drugs that target hormone receptor and HER2/neu oncogene signaling pathways, coupled with biomarker-based subclassification of the disease, have helped make breast cancer therapy a more precise science. Cloning of the BRCA genes provided insight into inherited predisposition and the opportunity for genetic testing. As a result of these advances, breast cancer death rates in the United States dropped by 34% between 1990 and 2014.   Read more