Cure Breast Cancer Foundation Prepares to Host First Annual THE GALA PINK to Benefit Breast Cancer Research

Formal Evening of Drinks, Dinner and Celebration Will Take Place on Wednesday, March 26th at Three Sixty ° in New York City’s Tribeca; Live Auction to be Held to Benefit Breast Cancer Research

CLIFTON, N.J. – One of the most anticipated events in the history of the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) will take place on Wednesday, March 26th  when the non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization hosts its first annual “The Gala Pink” at Three Sixty °, the spectacular rooftop venue with incredible views of New York City in Tribeca.

The first large-scale event ever to be hosted by CBCF’s Junior Board, The Gala Pink is a public affair to celebrate and recognize the year-long fundraising efforts of CBCF and its many donors, partners and contributors featuring cocktails, a dinner reception and special guest speakers highlighted by Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a noted medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

The formal evening is a continuation of CBCF’s tireless work to raise funds for the self-seeding theory of breast cancer research of Dr. Norton, the Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Breast Cancer Programs and the Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and other national and international research facilities. 100% of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the work of Dr. Norton and his colleagues.

The Gala Pink will also feature a live and silent auction with enticing items including fashion show tickets for a Fall/Winter 2014 Show, custom Taylor Made golf clubs and bag and dinner for 10 at home from a world-renowned chef at Rao’s.  The Gala Pink will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to the event cost $175 in advance and $225 at the door.  For additional information or to purchase tickets can visit http://curebreastcancerfoundation.org/events/upcoming-events/the-gala-pink.html

“The key to our success has been the diligence and dedication of our board and committee members and the many donors, volunteers, corporate partners and more who are the foundation of all the events we host throughout the year, from our annual Golf Classic and walk-a-thons to fashion shows and shop for a cure specials,” says Andrew Abramson, Treasurer and Co-Founder of the Clifton, N.J.-based CBCF.

“The Gala Pink is the culmination of all their work and recognition of their commitment to this ground breaking breast cancer research. What better way to celebrate their efforts than with a fun night of drinks, food, mingling and the opportunity to bid for a cure.  We invite everyone to join us for this special night and look forward to applauding our staff and generous partners.”

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death among women. Most cases of primary disease (in the breast and the lymph nodes under the arm) are cured by modern therapy. But should the cells spread to other parts of the body the disease can be controlled, but rarely cured. Dr. Norton’s team is dedicated to changing this by focusing our efforts on a revolutionary new concept of cancer that offers many possibilities for new methods of diagnosis, treatment, and even prevention.

CBCF supports a dedicated team of physicians and scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and New Jersey and their national and international collaborators.

All this work is coordinated by Dr. Norton, CBCF’s scientific advisor. It is based on the discovery that abnormal cell division is only one of the dangerous characteristic of cancer.

Cancer cells also have the capability of moving from one part of the body to another and indeed can circulate back to the place they came from in the first place—called “self‐seeding”—and become more aggressive in the process. When cancers are in one place—say the breast area—they can be removed completely or killed by irradiation; but the movement of cells is a bigger problem, one which Dr. Norton and his associates are tackling head on by using the most advanced weapons of medical science, including:

• Studying the ability of a very particular kind of white blood cell—cytotoxic neutrophils—to kill cancer cells. These neutrophils and the molecules that stimulate them, called chemokines, are present in the blood of women with breast cancer but not in women without cancer. How these cells are stimulated and how their presence contributes to a good prognosis is the basis for ongoing work.

• Studying the molecular make‐up of white blood cells (lymphocyte) that invade breast cancers and cancers of many other organs and can actually stimulate their growth. This discovery will likely enable not only diagnostic tools, but also open entirely new avenues of cancer therapy.

• Studying how cancers evolve in their primary site (the breast) and in metastatic sites. By tracking the changes in DNA in individual cancer cells from several sites simultaneously in individual patients, CBCF scientists plan to monitor such movement as well as define the molecular mechanisms that make the cancer cancerous. This will open up many opportunities in diagnosis, prognostication (predicting the course of disease), and eventually therapy too.

• Developing a mathematical understanding of breast cancer metastasis. With great effort to protect the confidentiality of the patients, CBCF scientists are examining these data to map patterns of spread. Results so far confirm the seeding concepts in that the patterns elucidated cannot be explained without incorporating self‐seeding.

• Assessing the relationship between certain molecules derived from cancer cells found in blood—called miRNAs and exosomes—and the geometry of cancerous masses as measured on microscope slides and radiographic images. Cancer seeding has a direct influence on geometry, since more seeding produces more disorganized and denser masses. The goal here is to be able to interpret blood tests along with mammograms and MRIs to better predict who has cancer and who requires therapy.

• Studying in New York and Israel the relationship between bone metabolism and breast cancer, finding intriguing relationships between the function of bone‐forming cells and breast cancer biology. This work relates to both breast cancer and osteoporosis, two common problems in post‐menopausal women throughout the world.

For more information on the CBCF, please call (973) 471-CBCF (2223) or visithttp://curebreastcancerfoundation.org.

Cure Breast Cancer Foundation

The Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) is a Clifton, N.J. – based not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charity devoted to fund research on the growth and spreading of breast cancer cells, also known as the Self-Seeding Theory, at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and other national and international cancer research facilities under the direction of Dr. Larry Norton, who serves as the Foundation’s Scientific Advisor.  The founder and president is Carly Abramson.  Her father, Andrew Abramson, is Treasurer.  For more information, call (973) 471-CBCF (2223), e-mail info@curebreastcancerfoundation.org or visithttp://www.curebreastcancerfoundation.org/.