# SPORE in Breast Cancer

> **NIH NIH P50** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $2,088,032

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: OVERALL
This is the third competing renewal application of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) SPORE in Breast
Cancer. Using the well-established framework of a very active and strong multidisciplinary VICC Breast Cancer
Program that is robustly supported by the SPORE mechanism, we have made significant progress in our current
project period. Our highly successful Developmental Research Projects (DRP) and Career Enhancement
Programs (CEP) continue to catalyze new ideas and new investigators in translational breast cancer research,
including two projects in this continuing renewal. We are uniquely poised to complete the proposed work and to
be even more productive in the years to come, thanks to an exceptional multidisciplinary program and
established productive collaborations with other Breast Cancer Programs and SPOREs, as well as national and
international collaborations. Our overall goal remains the same: To conduct collaborative, multidisciplinary and
mechanism-based translational research that will have the highest possible impact for women and men with or
at risk for breast cancer. After significant planning and internal and external advisory board evaluation, we
propose four bi-directional translational projects addressing basic, translational and clinical research questions
of importance in human breast cancer; Projects 1 and 2 are continuation projects, Projects 3 and 4 are new
projects that have evolved from two CEP awards in the current funding cycle: Project 1 - Mechanisms of
Resistance to Endocrine Therapy in ER+ Breast Cancer; Project 2 - Strategies to Improve Outcomes for TNBC
Patients Integrating Subtype-specific Genomic and Immune-based Discoveries; Project 3 - Targeting the DNA
Damage Response in Breast Cancer; Project 4 - Targeting Antigen Presentation to Improve Immunotherapy
Responses in Breast Cancer. The application also includes DRP and CEP, and four highly integrated shared
core resources: Administration and Engagement, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Pathology and Tissue
Informatics, and Immunophenotyping. The cores bring innovative technology and resources, including additional
personnel with project-specific expertise, to the overall VICC Breast SPORE Program and do not duplicate pre-
existing shared resources available at VICC or Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). With a focus on
human endpoints, six interventional therapeutic clinical trials are associated with the highly translational projects
in this proposal, all based on extensive collaboration between world-class basic and clinical investigators. We
have firmly established a true multidisciplinary team that successfully implements innovative clinical trials to test
hypotheses that result from in vitro and patient studies, and that will continue to have productive translational
collaborations with other Breast Cancer Programs and SPOREs as well as national and international groups.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984294
- **Project number:** 5P50CA098131-18
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Ingrid A Mayer
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $2,088,032
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2003-08-07 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984294

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984294, SPORE in Breast Cancer (5P50CA098131-18). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984294. Licensed CC0.

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