Gaining Momentum

Vaccines, targeted meds, and a new way to stop hair loss? Breast cancer research is reaching a breakthrough point.

- Katie Berohn

Every October, starting from when I was young, I remember clambering into my mother's Volkswagen in our matching "Race for the Cure" shirts to drive into downtown Denver before the sun rose, the roads still bathed in the tangerine glow of the streetlights. The race bibs we wore always said, "I walk for Wilma Parnell," my maternal grandmother, who died from breast cancer when my mom was just 11 years old.

The fight against breast cancer has come a long way since those early mornings, and now we could be on the verge of multiple breakthroughs. "The good news is that there really isn't enough time to talk about all of the exciting things that are happening," says Dorraya El-Ashry, PhD, chief scientific officer for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). Here are some of the advancements that experts find encouraging.

A BREAST CANCER VACCINE