Research Highlights

Bone Marrow Transplantation

Bone marrow transplantation was developed by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Hutchinson Center). It is the most fundamental advance in cancer treatment of the last quarter century. For more information about other advances being made by Hutchinson Center click here

Genetics of Cancer

After three and a half years of gene mapping, the Hutchinson Center and the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) have discovered a gene associated with prostate cancer that runs in families, and which may also trigger an inherited susceptibility to primary brain cancer.

Finding genes such as CAPB (cancer of the prostate and brain) may provide clues that will eventually help diagnose, treat, cure, and even prevent prostate cancer.

In similar studies, Dr. Mary-Claire King, UW genetics and medicine professor and world-renowned researcher, found the location of the first gene that proved the existence of hereditary breast cancer, called BRCA-1. This finding led the way to discovering the BRCA-2 gene, also associated with breast cancer.

Cancer Vaccines

Vaccines fool the body into thinking it is under attack by disease, prompting the body to react by producing antibodies that fight the disease. These antibodies stay in the body, ready to fight the disease should it return.

Dr. Mary L. (Nora) Disis, associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington, is conducting research to develop a vaccine against breast and ovarian cancer, and Dr. John Thompson is leading UWMC in national studies for developing melanoma vaccines. In both instances, research findings are very good.

Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping

Dr. David Byrd, chief of surgical oncology at UWMC uses a treatment called sentinel node biopsy, also called lymphatic mapping, to pinpoint the spread of breast cancer to the lymph nodes. This procedure is becoming a standard in breast cancer care.

Early Detection

Until a cure is found, finding cancer early is imperative. Traditionally, cancer is found through sampling. Tissue sampling can be done surgically, but more often our physicians are retrieving samples with less invasive methods, like stereotactical biopsies.

Computer-aided stereotactic biopsy equipment, (as in stereo, or two views) pinpoints calcifications for radiologists, who use a special needle to take small core samples from suspected malignant tumors. The patient feels slight pressure, not pain, during the procedure, which can be done in under an hour.

Imaging Techniques

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and MRI-guided biopsies provide the most definition for breast lesions. In the past, surgeons were unable to get samples from what they saw on the MRI because the lesions were inaccessible or not visible with other imaging methods. UWMC researchers now use prototype tools and integrate MRI with strong candidates for breast cancer in an effort to catch the disease earlier.

The MRI is still a research tool, and may be of value for diagnosed patients to stage their disease. This new development in MRI gives doctors easy access to the patients so that biopsies can be performed as soon as the MRI finds the abnormality.

Nuclear Medicine Imaging Techniques

Nuclear medicine combines the efforts of physicians, chemists, and physicists, who work together to produce and use radioactive isotopes in tracer studies to help diagnose breast cancer and to determine the effectiveness of breast cancer treatments.

"These techniques give us information that we can't always get from other types of imaging studies or, in some cases, even from biopsies," says Dr. David Mankoff, assistant professor of Radiology in UW's Nuclear Medicine Division.

Three Nuclear Medicine techniques have an increasing role with breast cancer patients. UW research was integral in developing these approaches:

1. Lymphoscintigraphy is part of the lymphatic mapping procedure and was adapted to breast cancer from a long-established practice at the UW, first applied to patients with melanoma.
2. PET (positron emission tomography) uses tracers with a special type of isotope known as a positron emitter, created in a cyclotron machine at University of Washington Medical Center. The most common type of PET scan uses a tracer called FDG, which is similar to glucose (sugar). FDG PET works since FDG accumulates in tumors that are using glucose at a high rate to provide energy for growth. Specialized scanning equipment picks up the FDG and tells doctors if the tumor has spread or if it is responding to treatment by comparison to earlier imaging studies.
3. MIBI imaging uses a tracer called sestamibi (or MIBI), which was designed originally for cardiac patients. Clinical research studies done at UWMC and other centers have shown that MIBI, like PET, works well in telling doctors how well a tumor is responding to therapy.

Ductal Lavage

Ductal Lavage is an experimental procedure in which milk duct samples are obtained by flushing (lavaging) fluid through the nipple. Dr. Susan Love, internationally renowned breast surgeon, pioneered this procedure. UWMC researchers are working in collaboration with her company, Windy Hill, Inc., to study this technique used to detect cancer earlier, especially in women with a strong family history or who have shown a strong cancer risk based on genetic test results.