Chair, Department of Cancer Prevention and Control
Professor of Oncology Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Associate Professor
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine
University at Buffalo

Dr. Ambrosone earned her doctoral degree in Epidemiology from the RPCI Graduate Division of the University at Buffalo (UB) in 1994; and completed postdoctoral training in breast cancer research at UB in 1995. She was a Research Epidemiologist at the National Center for Toxicological Research, Food & Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR (1996-2000) before becoming Director of Cancer Epidemiology in the Derald H. Ruttenberg Cancer Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY (2000-2002).

Dr. Ambrosone’s research focuses on molecular epidemiology and the role of genetic factors in modifying relationships between reproductive, dietary and environmental exposures and cancer risk. She is also interested in genetic and non-genetic factors that impact prognosis after a diagnosis of cancer.

Dr. Ambrosone is a member of many professional organizations and is currently the past year chair (2006) of the Molecular Epidemiology Group of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) as well as co-chair of the Molecular Epidemiology Subcommittee of the Southwest Oncology Group. She has received numerous honors and awards including the Thomas B. Tomasi Achievement Award, Roswell Park Cancer Institute a Service Award from the AACR (2000); a Special Recognition Award, AACR (1999); and the Outstanding Achievement award, US Food & Drug Administration (1997).

Dr. Ambrosone has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications and serves as Senior Editor for Cancer Research as well as acting as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals, including Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, The Lancet and the British Journal of Cancer. She is past member of the NCI EPIC Study Section and the ACS Study Section on Carcinogenesis, Nutrition and the Environment.

Research Program

Research in this program focuses on the role of diet, chemical carcinogens, and steroid hormones in cancer risk, particularly that of the breast, prostate and lung, and the role that interindividual variability in metabolism may play in both cancer etiology and prognosis after treatment for cancer. Dr. Ambrosone is PI on a funded case-control study of breast cancer, with a focus on the role of hormonal milieu on the early age at diagnosis and more aggressive disease among African-American women. She is also investigating the role of genetic and nutritional factors related to oxidative stress in two nested case-control studies of prostate cancer, as well as effects of supplemental and endogenous antioxidants on treatment outcomes nested in a therapeutic trial for breast cancer. Elucidation of the molecular epidemiology of cancer prognosis is a large focus of her research program, with studies of the role of diet, weight change, complementary and alternative medicines, and genetic variability in outcomes after cancer diagnosis.

Key Publications

• Ambrosone CB, Freudenheim JL, Graham S, Marshall JR, Vena JE, Brasure JR, Michalek AM, Laughlin R, Nemoto T, Gillenwater K, Harrington AM, Shields PG. Cigarette Smoking, N-acetyltransferase Genetic Polymorphisms, and Breast Cancer Risk. JAMA 1996;276:1494-1501.
• Ambrosone CB, Freudenheim JL, Thompson PA, Bowman E, Vena JE, Marshall JR, Graham S, Laughlin R, Nemoto T, Shields PG. Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) genetic polymorphisms, dietary antioxidants and risk of breast cancer. Cancer Res 1999;59:602-607.
• Ambrosone CB, Sweeney C, Coles BF, Thompson PA, McClure GY, Korourian S, Fares MY, Stone A, Kadlubar FF, Hutchins LF. Polymorphisms in glutathione S-transferases (GSTM1 and GSTT1) and survival after treatment for breast cancer. Cancer Res 2001;61:7130-5.
• Nowell S, Sweeney C, Winters M, Stone A, Lang NP, Hutchins L, Kadlubar FF, Ambrosone CB+. Association between Sulfotransferase 1A1 genotype and survival of women with breast cancer receiving tamoxifen therapy. JNCI 2002;94:1635-40.
• Ahn J, Gammon MD, Santella RM, Gaudet MM, Britton JA, Teitelbaum SL, Terry MB, Neugut AI, Josephy PD, Ambrosone CB+. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) genotype, fruit and vegetable consumption, and breast cancer risk. Cancer Res 2004;64:7634-7639.
• Ambrosone CB, Ahn J, Singh K, Rezaishiraz H, Furberg H, Sweeney C, Trovato A. Variability in genes related to oxidative stress (MPO, MnSOD, CAT) and survival after treatment for breast cancer Cancer Res 2005;65(3):1105-11.
• Chang-Claude J, Popanda O, Tan XL, Kropp S, Helmbold I, von Fournier D, Haase W, Sautter-Bihl ML, Wenz F, Schmezer P, AmbrosoneCB+. Association between polymorphisms in the DNA repair genes, XRCC1, APE1 and XPD, and acute side effects of radiotherapy in breast cancer patients. Clin Ca Res 2005;11:4802-9.
• Ahn J, Gammon MD, Santella RM, Gaudet MM, Britton JA, Teitelbaum SL, Terry MB, Nowell S, Davis W, Garza C, Neugut AI, Ambrosone CB+. Association between breast cancer risk and the catalase (CAT) genotype, fruit and vegetable consumption, and supplement use. Amer J Epidemiol 2005;162(10):943-52.
• Ambrosone CB, Rebbeck TR, Morgan GJ, Albain KS, Calle EE, Evans WE, Hayes DF, Kushi LH, McLeod HL, Rowland JH, Ulrich CM. New developments in the epidemiology of cancer prognosis: traditional and molecular predictors of treatment response and survival. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers & Prev 2006;15:2042-6.
• Amend KL, Hicks D, Ambrosone CB+. Breast cancer in African-American women: differences in tumor biology from European-American women. Cancer Res 2006;66:8327-30.
• Kuptsova N, Kopecky KJ, Godwin J, Anderson J, Hoque A, Willman CL, Ambrosone CB+. Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes and therapeutic outcomes of AML patients from SWOG clinical trials. Blood 2007 May 1;109(9):3936-44.
• Kuptsova N, Chang-Claude J, Kropp S, Helmbold I, Schmezer P, von Fournier D, Haase W, Suatter-Bihl ML, Wenz F, Ambrosone CB+ Genetic predictors of long-term toxicities after radiation therapy for breast cancer. Int J Cancer (in press, 2007).
• Chanda P, Zhang A, Brazeau D, Freudenheim J, Ambrosone C, Ramanathan M. Information theoretic metrics for visualizing gene environnment interactions. Am J Hum Genet (in press, 2007)