Border Breast Cancer Research Project Funded

A $1 million grant from the Department of Defense will fund a unique collaborative study of the low incidence of breast cancer in Hispanic women. The four-year project will be conducted as a partnership between The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston.

This is the first clinical study to be conducted at UTB/TSC.

Historically, Hispanic women have had a lower incidence of breast cancer than other ethnicities - about 40 percent lower. The study will attempt to identify factors accounting for the decreased risk. Researchers will evaluate diet, body mass index and hormones.

Traditional Mexican food contains some phytoestrogens, or estrogen from plant sources, believed to be a protective factor against breast cancer.

“We hope to find out what is protecting these women against the disease and how these findings can benefit other groups of women,” said Gerson Peltz, Ph.D., UTB/TSC associate professor of biological sciences and the project’s principal investigator.

Study participants will be identified through the Mammography Center at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen. Blood samples will be analyzed at South Texas Hospital.

“We hope to establish an outstanding breast cancer research program by combining the expertise of the UT-Houston School of Public Health faculty with the medical and lay community of faculty members from UTB/TSC,” said Maureen Sanderson, Ph.D., co-principal investigator for the project and associate professor of epidemiology at the UT-Houston School of Public Health.

The UT-Houston School of Public Health is part of the Regional Academic Health Center, which is located on the UTB/TSC campus.

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