More than 264,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the United States. Although deaths from breast cancer have declined over time, it remains the second-leading cause of cancer death among women.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an opportunity to focus on the impact of this disease. Florida State University faculty are available to speak to media about the importance of resistance training for breast cancer survivors and immunotherapy treatments for cancer.

Lynn Panton, professor, College of Health and Human Sciences
lpanton@fsu.edu 

Panton researches how exercise affects body composition, muscular strength and functional outcomes of healthy older adults and chronically diseased populations. Her recent research has focused on the effects of resistance training and functional impact training in female breast cancer survivors.

“Resistance training is important for breast cancer survivors, especially for regaining strength in their upper body. Surgery (mastectomies), treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, drugs) and diminished energy for physical activity can compromise muscle mass, strength and bone density. It is important to get women and men to begin or continue a resistance training program to improve, or at least maintain, their body composition and strength. This can help with physical function and improve quality of life.”

Qing-Xiang “Amy” Sang, professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
qxsang@chem.fsu.edu 

Sang studies immunotherapy treatments for cancer. Her research has led to a biomarker identification system to provide more accurate screening for breast cancer patients for chemotherapy.

“In the era of immunotherapy, we strive to understand the tumor immune microenvironment. A current hot topic in cancer research for solid tumors is the conversion of immunologically cold tumors to hot ones, because hot tumors show better response to immunotherapy with improved patient outcome. While immunologic coldness has been explained by the presence of immunosuppressive cells in certain tumors, the reasons for this in breast cancer have not been fully investigated. To address this need, we have used human breast cancer RNA-sequenced data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and identified hot and cold breast tumor groups based on their gene expression profiles and infiltration scores. Our goal is to advance knowledge on how to improve the efficacy of breast cancer immunotherapy.”