The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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UNC School of Medicine

Carolina Breast Cancer Study: Linking Tumor Biology to Social Determinants

UNC Breast SPORE Research Project 1

In the Carolina Breast Cancer Study phase 4, we are evaluating tumor biology in context of a multi-level cells-to-society model to identify predictors of recurrence and survival and to identify new interventions allowing precision medicine in breast cancer.

Caption available.
Carolina Breast Cancer Study census tract regions according to community level advantage/disadvantage (top) and over of joint model integrating individual and contextual factors and molecular traits for model building (bottom).

Project Aims

Aim 1

Identify relationships between clinical, individual, and community factors and biological tumor features (proliferation, p53 status, DNA repair, immune response, and stromal reactivity) under a cells-to-society framework.

Aim 2

Identify relationships between tumor biology and microenvironment, access to care, and community-level variables (exposures) with breast cancer recurrence/survival (outcomes) in a large breast cancer cohort study (Carolina Breast Cancer Study 3 & 4).

Project Co-Leaders