Sep 4, 2008 4:44 pm US/Eastern
Work At Local Cancer Center Is Changing Lives
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
The University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore is among the top 50 cancer programs in the nation.
Denise Koch reports the work there is changing lives.
Dr. Angela Brodie is a professor of pharmacology at the Greenebaum Cancer Center. She is also the woman behind the groundbreaking development of aromatase inhibitors, a new class of breast cancer drugs.
The drugs suppresses estrogen. That's the fuel that feeds most breast cancer tumors.
Susan Brennan was diagnosed four years ago.
"My cancer, the particular kind that I have, grows better in the presence of estrogen. So now, I'm taking something which actually suppresses my body's capacity to make estrogen," said Brennan.
Brennan takes Arimidex, one of three aromatase inhibitors on the market.
"If it weren't for Arimidex, I would be quite ill right now," she said.
Tamoxifen used to be the standard treatment for breast cancer patients. But because of that drug's side effects and limited efficacy, Dr. Brodie and her team sought better long-term treatment. Aromatase inhibitors appear to be the answer.
The results have been positive so far, and Dr. Brodie has high hopes for the future.
"Maybe now we can make breast cancer a chronic disease, and not a fatal disease that it has been in the past," said Brodie.
Because of the breakthrough research happening here, the Greenebaum Center has just joined Johns Hopkins in becoming only the second Maryland facility to earn a National Cancer Institute designation for scientific excellence.
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