The Foundation awards funds raised through the sale of the End Breast Cancer specialty license plate for basic, clinical and translational breast cancer research, epidemiological studies of breast cancer, research on links between breast cancer and the environment, psycho-immunological research, innovative awards and ideas grants.

The Foundation reviewed its first research grant applications in late summer, 2004, through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program under its Concept Award Category. The Board of the Foundation has approved five concept award grants of $90,000 each, along with two pre-doctoral grants.

You will need Acrobat Reader to download the Letter of Intent, which gives instructions on the application process; an Application Cover Sheet; and a Grant Agreement Form that outlines what will be expected of grantees. The FBCF will announce its 2006 awards process in early 2006.

Grants Awarded Updates

This proposal proposes to look at a gene called PRAME. The name is the equivalent of “preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma expression”.  This gene has been associated with melanoma and some other hematopoietic cancers. The PRAME gene has also been associated with aggressive breast cancers. The PIs proposed to look at tumor cell lines that express the PRAME gene and to see exactly what mechanisms may make breast cancers more aggressive. Targeted therapies may then be used to interfere with the mechanisms that the PRAME gene may control. The PRAME gene may be predictive of a more aggressive cancer and has not been used up to this point in time as a clinical indicator of prognosis. We do use two tests currently in node negative hormone receptor positive patients: one test is called Ocotype DX. The second test is called MammoPrint. The PRAME gene may be another predictor of aggressiveness and need for additional therapy, i.e. chemotherapy.  In addition, as I mentioned before, the PIs may be able to discover the mechanisms by which the PRAME gene influences aggressiveness of the cancer and may therefore, find mechanisms to interfere with those processes.

2009 - 2010 Grant Awards, Total Awarded - $600,000.00

University of Miami School of Medicine $100,000 per year for 3 years
Principal Investigator: Diana Lopez
Project Title: Immunotherapy and Antitumor Effects of a Secreted Form of MUC1
Proposed Timeline: 10/1/09 – 9/30/2012
The goal of this proposal is to use the tumor antigenic properties of mucin 1 (MUC1), a polymorphic type 1 transmembrane protein present in normal epithelium, lymphocytes, and dendritic cells, to develop both an immunotherapy and a diagnostic tool for breast cancer.  The hypothesis to be tested is that a secreted form of MUC1 (MUC1sec), and a unique 11 amino acid peptide derived from it, have immunoenhancing properties (IEPs). These properties are due to the down regulatory effects of tumor factors on negative regulatory cells, such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and regulatory T cells (Tregs).

University of Miami School of Medicine $100,000 per year for 3 years
Principal Investigator: Eli Gilboa
Project Title: Potentiating Tumor Immunity Using Aptamer-Targeted Inhibition of TGF-Beta Signaling in Tumor-Specific T cells
Proposed Timeline: 10/1/09 – 9/30/2012
The PI of this proposal plans to conduct new research on potentiating tumor immunity using aptamer-targeted inhibition of transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) signaling in tumor-specific T cells. The hypothesis being tested will determine if small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against TGFbetaRII can be directly targeted to activated T cells and make them resistant to TGFbeta present in the tumor microenvironment with the goal of establishing a reagent that can extinguish expression of the receptor for the TGFbeta1, abundant in the tumor microenvironment, and be targeted to activated T cells and tested for efficiency. The intention is to overcome tumor-induced inhibition of antitumor T cells that are induced by vaccination.

Past Grant Awards

2008 - 2009 Grant Awards
2007 - 2008 Grant Awards
2006 - 2007 Grant Awards
2005 - 2006 Grant Awards
2004 - 2005 Grant Awards