In the News

Research led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators delved into data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of 414,746 females in the study, which was published in Nature Genetics. They identified 332 independent association signals for breast cancer risk, including 131 signals not previously reported.

A study led by researchers from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center sheds light on some of the genetic variants that make breast cancer more deadly for women of African ancestry and significantly reduces the disparity in knowledge for assessing their genomic risk factors.

On June 22, 2023, Dr. Jie Ping received the Division of Epidemiology's 2023 Research Paper Award. You can view the paper, Genome- and transcriptome-wide association studies of 386,000 Asian and European-ancestry women provide new insights into breast cancer genetics, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics by clicking here. Dr. Ping is a Research Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt's School of Medicine.

New research from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center provides insight into how genetic variants convey breast cancer susceptibility by altering the transcription factor proteins that convert DNA strands into RNA.

Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) plus radiotherapy is the standard-of-care for women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. For women over age 70, however, radiotherapy after BCS is controversial, and U.S. National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical practice guidelines recommend that it may be omitted. 

The TAILORx study published last year offered good news for women with early-stage ER-positive breast cancer who scored at intermediate risk for recurrence according to a genetic assay test. The study indicated that chemotherapy after surgery provided little advantage in overall survival for these women, so they could forgo the treatment.