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For Immediate Release
January 8, 2004
Mercy to Participate in
Discovery of Blood Test
to Detect Early Breast Cancer
Oklahoma City -Dr.
Alan B. Hollingsworth, medical director of Mercy Women's Center, was
recently invited to serve as a collaborating investigator with the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle for the discovery of a blood test to
detect early breast cancer. Mercy will collaborate alongside such
institutions as MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Alabama and Fox
Chase Cancer Center.
During the past
year, Mercy and Breast MRI of Oklahoma have been collecting blood samples
from women undergoing MRI of the breast. "Thanks to these volunteers
throughout Oklahoma, we now have the largest collection of samples tied to
MRI results in the country," Hollingsworth said. "When placed
with our database, these specimens are invaluable to research
scientists."
For more than a
decade and long before there was much interest in finding a blood test for
breast cancer, Dr. Hollingsworth has been pursuing this research agenda.
In addition, for the past several years, Mercy Women's Center has been
working with two biotech companies for the development of a blood test to
detect early breast cancer.
"In the early
1990s, people still thought mammography alone was all we needed,"
said Dr. Hollingsworth. "Finally, grants are being awarded, and
biotech companies are joining the efforts to find a blood test that will
improve the accuracy of mammography and select patients properly for
breast MRI. An annual blood test much like the PSA test for prostate
cancer would help capture cancers missed by x-ray, would be an option for
women who choose not to have mammograms, and would finally provide a good
option for women considered too young for routine screening mammography,
but not too young to develop breast cancer."
In 2002, the
Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program awarded a $7 million
initiative to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Research is being coordinated
at 10 separate sites around the country. The Fred Hutchinson center was
also named lead facility for additional funding through the prestigious
Avon-NCI grant program, as part of the SPOREs program (Specialized
Programs of Research Excellence) of the National Cancer Institute.
"Because research can be done on such small samples of blood
nowadays, each volunteer from Oklahoma will have her sample studied at
multiple research sites around the country, in addition to the biotech
companies with whom we've already been collaborating," Dr.
Hollingsworth said. "It's unusual for a community-based hospital to
support a research cause like this, but Mercy recognizes the potential
impact in saving lives that will be accomplished should a reliable blood
test be discovered."
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