Inflammatory Breast Cancer, Tumor Markers, and Factors Associated With Angiogenesis

Study Summary

This study, conducted by the NCI and the George Washington University Medical Center (GWUMC), will examine breast tissue from patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) for tumor markers and factors associated with angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels that is essential for tumor growth and spread. IBC is an extremely rare, aggressive form of breast cancer that disproportionately affects young women. The risk factors for IBC, its cause, and how it develops are unknown, but the disease appears to involve a high degree of angiogenesis. Tissue specimens for this study will be obtained from GWUMC's Inflammatory Breast Cancer Registry and Biospecimen Repository. The registry was established to develop a national registry of patients with IBC that includes standardized clinical, epidemiological, and pathological information, along with disease recurrence and survival data. For this study, tissue specimens from the repository will be tested for biological markers and angiogenesis parameters to help in the classification of the tumors. Biological markers (such as estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, the p53 gene, and others) and angiogenesis parameters (such as various proteins involved in vessel formation) will be examined to determine their prevalence in tissue specimens and their relationship to patient survival. When possible, the findings will be compared with non-IBC tissue samples.