How changing estrogen and fat inflammation raise breast cancer risk and spread in obese women
Official title: Mechanistic Links Between Changing Estrogen Profiles, Inflammation and the Increased Risk and Metastasis of Breast Cancer in Obese Women
Funded at Georgetown University · NIH-11238022 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers are exploring how the postmenopausal estrogen estrone and inflammation in breast fat may drive higher risk and spread of ER-positive breast cancer in obese women.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Georgetown University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Washington, United States) |
| Project start | March 7, 2017 |
| Project end | November 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $417,705 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA210440-10 |
| Project ID | NIH-11238022 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Most relevant candidates would be postmenopausal women with obesity who have ER-positive breast cancer or who can provide breast tissue samples for research.
✕Less likely to help
Premenopausal women, people with ER-negative breast cancer, or those unwilling to provide tissue samples are less likely to be eligible or to benefit directly from this work.
What this research studies
This project looks at how the postmenopausal estrogen estrone and inflammation in breast fat work together to make ER-positive breast cancer more likely to grow and spread in women with obesity. Researchers use human breast tissue samples, 3-D cell cultures, and animal models to compare estrone versus estradiol effects on inflammatory signals, cancer stem cells, and genes tied to metastasis. They also study how the estrogen receptor ERα teams up with the inflammation regulator NFκB on DNA and how activating ESR1 mutations change those interactions. The goal is to find molecular targets or biomarkers that explain worse outcomes in obese, postmenopausal women.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to new targets or biomarkers to prevent or limit ER-positive breast cancer progression in obese postmenopausal women.
How similar studies have gone: Prior lab and animal studies, including work from this group, show estrone promotes inflammation, cancer stem cell expansion, and tumor growth more than estradiol, but the detailed chromatin mechanisms are still novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Georgetown University
Washington, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Slingerland, Joyce Marie — Georgetown University
- Study coordinator: Slingerland, Joyce Marie
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.