Tyler Curiel, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine, is one of two Health Science Center faculty members who will deliver a plenary address at the CTRC-ACCR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
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Contact: Karen Stamm, (210) 450-2020

The 32nd annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, set for Wednesday, Dec. 9, through Sunday, Dec. 13, will feature 16 presentations by UT Health Science Center San Antonio faculty members. Faculty, staff and students can attend the seminar at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center free of charge, without going through the registration process.

Expected to draw 8,500 scientists and other professionals from more than 90 countries, the symposium was founded in 1978 by the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. In 2005, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston became a joint sponsor. The partnership expanded to include the American Association for Cancer Research in 2007 to help increase the basic science presentations.

The conference is a chance to experience firsthand a comprehensive scientific meeting that encompasses the full spectrum of breast cancer research.

“It provides an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with colleagues from around the world, to improve one’s own knowledge, to build on present knowledge and establish collaborative relationships,” said Richard Elledge, M.D., an oncologist and clinical professor of medicine at the CTRC in an Oct. 26 story in the San Antonio Business Journal.

Faculty presentations
On Saturday, Dec. 12, Tyler Curiel, M.D., M.P.H., professor in the Department of Medicine, will deliver a plenary address, “New paradigms in tumor immunotherapy,” from 9 to 9:30 a.m. Also on Saturday at 11 a.m., Rajeshwar Rao Tekmal, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology and the Carl J. Pauerstein Professor in Reproductive Research, will deliver an oral presentation in Exhibit Hall D, “Targeting Aldose Reductase: A Novel Strategy in Treating Endocrine Resistance Using Combination Therapy.” Peter Ravdin, M.D., Ph.D., a clinical professor of medicine, will give an oral presentation on controversies in adjuvant chemotherapy on Thursday, Dec. 10, from 12:30 to 1:35 p.m. in Exhibit Hall D. Dr. Ravdin will moderate a session on host-related factors in breast cancer on Friday, Dec. 11, from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. in Exhibit Hall D.

Throughout the meeting, faculty from numerous Health Science Center departments will deliver 14 poster presentations. View a comprehensive listing of the presentations at the symposium Web site.

Drs. Curiel and Tekmal both served on this year’s executive committee and planning committee, along with CTRC President Emeritus Charles Coltman, M.D., professor of medicine and one of the symposium founders. Dr. Ravdin also is an executive committee member.

Generally, more than half of those who attend the CTRC-ACCR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium come from outside the United States. In 2008, more than 8,000 attended from 92 countries, compared to 141 attendees from a five-state area who attended the first conference in 1978.

High-profile topics
The topics expected to generate high interest include:

• The use of anti-osteoporosis drugs to reduce the risk of breast cancer
  
• Improvements in hormonal therapy for breast cancer treatment
  
• Combining new drugs that affect blood supply to tumors, called angiogenesis inhibitors, with chemotherapy
  
• Potential connections between obesity and breast cancer
  
• Whether the success of treating liver and kidney cancer with a new family of drugs that inhibit kinases — enzymes that transmit signals to control cell processes and behavior — will extend to breast cancer
  
• Improving breast cancer screening through the use of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging

Those who cannot attend the meeting but wish to monitor
the proceedings can do so via the Health Science Center-sponsored Web site, http://www.sabcs.org, that will provide streaming Webcasts, podcasts, daily newsletters and a daily slide review. According to a monthly report on the Web site’s usage from Director of Symposia Rich Markow from the Office of Continuing Medical Education, the site had nearly 56,000 visits in November, about 4,500 more than it has historically received the month before the annual meeting. Some 43,000 downloads were reported.

Recognized economic boost for city
While the symposium benefits science, it also enhances San Antonio’s economy. According to statistics from the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau, those who attended the 2008 breast cancer meeting spent $10.7 million while they were here, making it the city’s second largest convention last year.

This past May, the bureau honored the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium with its first-ever Con Corazon Award. The award is dedicated to “an organization that has demonstrated dedication and passion in bringing long-term prestigious exposure to San Antonio.”

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The Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is one of the nation's leading academic research and treatment centers, serving more than 4.4 million people in the high-growth corridor of Central and South Texas including Austin, San Antonio, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. CTRC is one of the elite cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, and is one of the only three in Texas. A world leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer, the CTRC Institute for Drug Development is internationally recognized for conducting one of the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug programs in the world, and participates in the clinical and/or preclinical development of many of the cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For more information, visit www.ctrc.net.