Research

The research arm of The Mastology Center, referred to internally as the Mastology Research Institute, resides inside The Sallie Astor Burdine Breast Foundation. It is a state-of-the-art research facility, one of the most complete and advanced breast cancer research centers in the United States. Researchers, including Dr. Robert Elliott and Dr. Xianpeng Jiang, CLA, have been involved in work to find answers about what causes a tumor to grow, which chemical substances can slow or even stop a tumor’s growth, and what signs in a woman’s tumor tissue, or new signs in the blood, predict or signal early recurrence. Their discoveries and advances have been instrumental in improving treatment success rates for patients at The Mastology Center. Because of their research, the medical team can identify new cancerous growths and recurrences while they are still small and more easily treated and implement immediate treatment that could save a woman’s life. Dr. Elliott and his team of researchers have also developed a patented breast cancer vaccine.

Current Research

Innovative Chemotherapy
The typical drugs used in cancer chemotherapy are very toxic and thus cause many undesirable side effects. We have found that by binding chemotherapeutic agents to transferrin we can target the drug to the cancer and deliver effective chemotherapy without the undesirable side effects.

Immunology
Two vaccine programs are available for breast and prostate cancer. The breast cancer vaccine program uses autologous and allogeneic tumor cells, tumor marker proteins, and the biological adjuvants GM-CSF and IL-2 in a vaccine to stimulate our patients’ immune responses to their own tumors. The prostate cancer vaccine only uses tumor marker proteins (PSA, etc.), as autologous prostate cancer cells are not readily available.

Infrared Imaging
Infrared imaging of the breast is being further developed and improved for risk assessment, diagnosis and prognosis in breast cancer. There is also an attempt to use infrared imaging to follow therapeutic responses in breast cancer patients. We are presently participating in a government sponsored multi-institutional study to integrate state-of-the-art infrared imaging technology and computer assisted image analysis into the clinical reading of breast infrared imaging.

ALS research
We are conducting research on the importance of mitochondria interaction with cellular signaling pathways to improve muscular function following up on insights gleaned from our cancer research. The ability to closely monitor and enhance these functions allows the prospect to reduce the impact of neurodegenerative disorder symptoms perhaps delaying or even inhibiting the progression of the disease. We hope to accumulate the necessary funding to continue testing and commence clinical trials using novel biological matrix isolates currently under investigation.

We appreciate all donations.  Our groundbreaking cancer research is funded by The Sallie Astor Burdine Breast Foundation.  We are one of the oldest nonprofit breast foundations.  Our goal is to try and prevent and eradicate ALL cancer. Please help us reach our goal and be cancer free!