Recent Scientific Progress and Achievements:
Carcinogenesis, Early Detection, and Cancer Prevention
Work in this area has explored several aspects of early cancer biology, suggesting new strategies for cancer detection and/or prevention. Significant accomplishments include:
- Exploration by Drs. Tlsty and Keith Mostov and colleagues of individual epithelial cells organize into multicellular structures (Grant et al. 2; e129, 2006).
- Assessment by Dr. Kerlikowske and a multi-institutional team of the accuracy of screening mammography data showing that that radiologists are performing well and that mammography, along with improved breast cancer treatment, appears to be decreasing the number of deaths from breast cancer (Rosenberg et al. 241; 55-66, 2006).
- Demonstration by Dr. Robert Brasch and colleagues that PEG-based cascade polymer MRI contrast agents (effective molecular weight >82 kDa) were well-suited for MRI quantification of tissue plasma volume and for differentiating leaky cancer microvessels from nonleaky normal vessels and that dynamic MR imaging revealed microvascular permeability to a high-molecular-weight contrast agent was significantly reduced by treatment with celecoxib (Fournier et al. 2007)
- Evaluation by Dr. Esserman and colleagues of a shared decision-making aid for breast cancer prevention care designed to help women make appropriate prevention decisions by presenting information about risk in context. (Ozanne et al. 13; 147-54, 2007).
- Demonstration by Drs. Hwang, Moore, Esserman and Ziegler that DCIS is equally as prevalent in patients who carry deleterious BRCA mutations as in high familial-risk women who are noncarriers, but occurs at an earlier age (Hwang et al. 25; 642-7, 2007).
- Demonstration by Dr. Tlsty and colleagues that that loss of p16(INK4a) generates supernumerary centrosomes through centriole pair splitting and that p16(INK4a) cooperates with p21 through regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase activity to prevent centriole pair splitting (McDermott et al. 4; e51, 2006).
- Illustration by Dr. Smith-Bindman and colleagues that most of the racial and ethnic differences in breast cancer features were reduced or eliminated after accounting for the frequency of mammography screening (Smith-Bindman et al., Ann Intern Med 144, 541-553, 2006) and confirmation that racial minorities underutilize mammography in comparison to white women (Kagay et al., Am J Prev Med, 31, 142-149, 2006).
Future Plans: We will develop new serum-based approaches to detection of cancer specific nucleic acids and modified proteins in the serum using powerful mass spectrometric and PCR strategies. Work in this area will be stimulated by the recently awarded CPTAC award and by philanthropic funds from the Cancer Center.
