How can laypeople better understand the significance of statins and macrophages as surrogate markers for breast cancer outcomes?
All cancers, and breast cancer is no different, can be likened to a bunch of criminals. Some commit petty crimes and some are killers. We try to understand the criminals, especially the bad ones-that is, the tumors, but we also must take advantage of understanding the “neighborhoods” where the criminals hang out. In other words, where are these criminals hanging out and with whom? This is exactly the right analogy for how we found the immune system cells called ProMacs. They show up consistently in the same vicinity with a certain type of fast-growing breast cancer. So our strategy is to try to clean up the neighborhood to prevent a crime. Q: How close do you think we are to preventing or finding a cure for breast cancer? A: When we are willing to get more into the details of particular cancers, we will make better progress. If you are at risk for an ER-negative breast cancer, for example, you can’t use the screening strategies in place for ER-positive tumors. This is partly why ER-neg
