WASHINGTON, (NGB) - Taxpayers with a stake in  breast cancer  research chose the Army to manage federal funds that are awarded  to  some of the best breast cancer researchers in the world.

Every year since 1992, Congress has added millions of  dollars to the  Defense Department's budget so the U.S. Army Medical Research  and  Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Md., can help scientists fight breast   cancer.

The Breast Cancer Research Program is just one of the   congressionally directed medical research programs that have managed $6  billion  in appropriations through fiscal 2010. Funding covers such  afflictions as Gulf  War illness, prostate cancer, spinal cord and  traumatic brain injuries, autism  and genetic studies of food allergies.  But the largest share of money -– and  the first research to be funded  by the program -– goes to scientists whose work  targets breast cancer  prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment.

"We don't invest any funds into raising breast  cancer awareness or  educational outreach," oncologist and Army Capt. (Dr.)  E. Melissa Caime  told American Forces Press Service. "That isn't the  mission given to  us by Congress. All of our funds go toward research and  management of  that research. And we really do try to complement other funding   agencies and not compete, and so move the field forward in a unique  way."

In 1992, breast cancer patients and survivors marched on  Congress with a compelling request for more research, Caime said.

"They wanted research that was innovative, that was  willing to take a  risk and that was going to have an impact and leapfrog the  field  forward," she said. To manage the program, the advocates had a  choice  among the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and other research   institutions.

"When the advocates met with our commanding general  at the time,  they found a very welcoming organization," Caime said.  "This command  has done biomedical research for many decades specifically  focused on  the needs of warfighters, ... [including] military operational   medicine, combat casualty care and military infectious disease focus   areas."

AMRMC'S commanding general also was enthusiastic about  the  advocates' desire to have a larger voice in research, Caime said, "so   we've had a very happy partnership since that time."

The Army brings to the program "a very organized and  efficient way of managing the research," she added.

Any scientist around the world can submit a research  proposal for  funding, and scientists and consumers work together in a two-tier   process to decide which projects receive funding, she said.

"We listen to consumers, who we call the  survivor-advocates, because  they are the ones living with the disease,"  Caime said. "They are the  acid test for every research project. We ask:  'How is [the research]  going to make a difference for them or future  generations, and  incorporate their viewpoints and passions in all of our  programs?'"

The National Cancer Institute estimates that 207,090  women will be  diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and nearly 40,000 will  die.  Also this year, an estimated 2,000 men will be diagnosed, and 390 will   die.

The Breast Cancer Research Program tries to focus on  leading-edge  kinds of research, program manager Dr. Gayle Vaday told American  Forces  Press Service.

"The bulk of our awards are made in the early  stages, where it's  harder for researchers to get funding through other federal  agencies,"  she said. "We try to give a new idea that opportunity.  It's high-risk,  but the potential for gain is there."

For example, Dr. Lance Liotta of George Mason University  and  Virginia surgeon Dr. Kirsten Edmiston received an early award for  research  that evolved into an ongoing clinical trial to test the  ability of the  antimalarial drug chloroquine to reduce the long-term  survival and spread of a  kind of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma  in situ, Vaday said. A standard  treatment is to remove a tumor  surgically from the breast, but it can take  several days after surgery  to find out if all the tumor cells are gone, she added.

Dr. Sarah Blair and colleagues at the University of  California-San  Diego received an award to develop an automated system that  examines  thousands of cells while a woman is still under anesthesia during   surgery and separates cancer from noncancer cells based on the proteins  they  produce.

In 1993, the program funded an application from Dr.  Dennis Slamon,  then chief of hematology and oncology division at the University  of  California-Los Angeles, to develop antibodies against breast cancer –-  an  idea that was unheard-of at the time, Caime said.

Slamon's genetic studies ultimately led to the  development of a drug  called Herceptin that helps some of the women who have a  fast-growing  and deadly form of the disease.

"We don't restrict proposals to specific  topics," Caime said. "For  this program we allow the good science to  come forward. We don't try to  tell the scientific field that we must have  studies on [specific  topics]. We let very excellent science with innovation  come to the  top."