• The Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center
• Genomic Basis of Reproductive History in Breast Cancer
• Breast Cancer Therapy by Differentiation Gene Activation
• Estrogens and Breast Cancer
• Biomarkers of Exposure
• Biomarkers of Breast Cancer Prevention
• Epigenetic Control of Estrogen Induced Cell Transformation
• Prevention Trial in the use of r-hCG in Women of High Risk of Developing Breast Cancer
• Circadian Rhythm and Mammary Gland Development
• Fox Chase Cancer Center Breast Cancer Tissue Resources
• Characterization and Validation of Genomic Expression Signature of Pregnancy
• Epigenetic And Chromatin Remodeling Studies

Fox Chase Cancer Center Breast Cancer Tissue Resources

The major goals of this project are:

Dr. Fathima Sheriff is the Coordinator of the Breast Cancer Tissue Resources at the FCCC, charged with maintaining adequate quality control.

1. To provide tissue sections and pertinent clinical data to investigators whose applications have been recommended for approval by merit and content by REP and approved by twith NCI-CBCTR.
2. To actively participate in the construction of tissue microarrays and further distribution to investigators whose applications have been recommended for approval by REP and the NCI-CBCTR
3. To maintain an adequate accrual of new cases that allows a replenishment of the used archival tissue.
4. To construct tissue microarray of normal breast tissue and further distribution to investigators approved as stated above
5. To maintain an adequate quality control in the FCCC-CBCTR.
6. To fully participate in the functioning of the coordinating Committee of the NCI-CBCTR and collaborate with the REP.
7. To encourage the utilization of the NCI-CBCTR through an adequate marketing initiative.

The Fox Chase Breast Cancer Tissue Resource is one of four geographically diverse facilities from across the nation participating in the National Cancer Institute’s Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource. The other three institutions working in consortium with FCCC are Kaiser Permanente in Portland Oregon, University of Miami, and the University of Missouri. A computerized central database is maintained in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Fox Chase Breast Cancer Tissue Resource is a collaborative effort among the Hospital of the Fox Chase Cancer Center and eleven other Fox Chase Network Hospitals.

Recent Publications

• Russo, J. Differentiation and Pathogenesis of breast cancer. Women and Cancer 1: 14-21, 1998.
• Abdel-Rahman N. Zekri, Abeer A. Bahnassi, Betsy Bove, Yajue Huang, Irma H. Russo, André Rogatko, Sabry Shaarawy, Osama A. Shawki, Mohamed-Reda Hamza, Sherif Omer, Hussein M. Khaled. and Jose Russo. Allelic instability as a predictor of survival in breast cancer patients. International Journal of Oncology 15:757-767, 1999.
• Bahnassy, A.A., Zekri, A.R., Bove, B., Raafat, A., El-Bolkainy, M.N., Ali, N.M., Omar, S., Russo, J. The role of allelic imbalance at chromosome 2p16 in breast cancer progression. J. Egyptian Cancer Institute, 12:211-220, 2000.
• Fuqua, S.A.W., Russo, J., Shackney, S.E., Stearns, M.E. Estrogen, Estrogen Receptors and Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators in Human Breast Cancer. Journal of Women’s Cancer 2:21-32, 2000.
• Fuqua, S.A., Russo, J., Shackney, S.E., Stearns, ME., Selective estrogen receptor modulators. An aid in unraveling the links between estrogen and breast cancer. Postgrad. Med. Spec No: 3-10, 2001.
• Glass, A.G., Donis-Keller, H., Mies, C., Russo, J., Zehnbauer, B., Taube, S., Aamodt, R. The cooperative breast cancer tissue resource: Archival Tissue for the investigation of tumor markers. Clinical Cancer Res 7(7):1843-1849, 2001.
• Meyer, J.S., Alvarez, C., Lister, K., Milikowski, C., Olson, N., Russo, I.H., Russo, J., Zehnbauer, B., Glass A., Parwaresch, R. Breast carcinoma malignancy grading by Bloom-Richardson system vs proliferation index: reproducibility of grade and advantages of proliferation index. Mod Pathol 18:1067-78, 2005.