The PA Breast Cancer Coalition awarded a $100,000 research grant to two Pittsburgh-based researchers on Thursday morning to support a focus on artificial intellegence in breast cancer research and breast cancer recurrence.
Through this grant, Dr. Shandong Wu, professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, will be able to focus on AI techniques that allow for deep learning models.
This research will help patients understand their risk of breast cancer recurrence after chemotherapy. The research will allow more agency in their treatment plans, Wu said.
“Our project using artificial intelligence will be able to leverage all existing data that is available in our health system and learn the knowledge from this model, using the model as a tool to make better patient decisions,” Wu said. He said the AI model will learn knowledge from the data.
The treatment for hormone-sensitive early-stage breast cancer includes endocrine therapies such as Tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. There are quality-of-life-altering side effects associated with these therapies.
Having the AI model and large amounts of data from clinical studies allows the model to have a lot to learn from.
“The knowledge will be applicable to more women, from different ages and races, and it would increase equitability for those patients,” he said.
The results would help a patient manage their treatment.
“If they know taking a certain medicine is helping me and I am responding to the treatment, it is a good thing, and it encourages them to use the medicine,” Wu said. “If they don’t know that it is working, it can be difficult to continue use, with the side effects.”
For some people, if the recurrence risk is very high, then a patient has the chance earlier to think about looking at alternative treatment options. Within three to six months, patients will know if they are responding or not responding, according to Wu.
About 13,000 women in Pennsylvania are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, according to the PA Breast Cancer Coalition.
Magee-Womens’ collaboration
“The collaboration is very important and determines the gaps and closes the gaps of knowledge around breast cancer,” said Dr. Marija Balic, co-director of the Magee-Womens Cancer Program at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, regarding her work with Wu.
With the help of technology and algorithms, they will be able to more quickly understand the risk of the disease, Balic said.
“Finding patients who are at risk for relapse will help us narrow the population to study, to evaluate novel treatments and approaches to improve their outcomes and reduce the risk of recurrence,” she said.
Balic said the technology also will help researchers and physicians approach populations with higher risks and worse prognoses to help motivate them to enroll in research and improve their outcomes.
“It is really important to work on trust and improve communication with those patients who are not as accessible,” Balic said.
Wu said the study originated with looking at breast density. Women with dense breast tissue have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Breast density changes after treatment, Wu said, and there is some research that suggests this can be a good indicator of whether the patient is responding to treatment.
“That was our motivation point. But that is one single measure of the breast tissue; it is not the best way to capture the biological complexity of our body,” Wu said.
“Some features we may not be able to see with our naked eye, but AI and data science can find the information hidden in this data. These technologies will help us get these nuanced features from the data.”
Federal funding uncertain
With cuts to the National Institutes of Health, these funding opportunities are incredibly important, especially as research is funded externally, said Elizabeth Wild, president of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
“There’s some uncertainty that exists in the market right now,” Wild said. “Support from groups like the PA Breast Cancer Coalition is especially meaningful to us because they are supported by donors here in Pennsylvania.”
Wild said when they recruit physicians and scientists to the region, they know they are coming into a supportive environment where their research can develop and flourish.
Lance Long, 24, from Houston, Texas, is part of Wu’s Intelligent Computing for Clinical Imaging (ICCI) lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Long is a member of the project and is studying the early results.
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“We started from a very technical perspective. Sometimes that can be challenging to connect to the clinical impacts and goals of the study,” Long said. “We’re working to take back the technical aspects and make sure the clinical goals are also focused on, like understanding the risk of recurrence.”
The cancer coalition’s role
“The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition is really committed to funding breast cancer research here in Pennsylvania,” said Jennifer Pensinger, PBCC executive director. “Right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty, and projects could be put on hold. We want to make sure that we are funding research on a basic level, and our commitment to that has not stopped.”
Pensinger said the coalition’s goal has always been to offer steppingstone grants because a lot of these projects could cost millions of dollars, and it’s critical that there is funding for that on the federal level by the National Institutes of Health.
“There’s so much uncertainty. … I think everyone is just waiting to see what will happen next.”
The coalition awarded $500,000 in grants this year, and $6.1 million in total.
The grants this year have spanned the state: $100,000 to UPMC; $200,000 to the Penn State University Cancer Institute; $100,000 to the University of Pennsylvania; and $100,000 to Thomas Jefferson University.
Applications are open for the 2026 funding cycle. “We are hoping to fund more next year,” she said.
The grants are funded by the support of donors.
In Pennsylvania, there is a donation option when a driver’s license or vehicle registration is renewed. Several organizations are listed, and PBCC is one of those options.
“We have a lot of people who make that donation, and every $5 helps,” Pensinger said.