Cory Dobson, Author at Sanford Burnham Prebys - Page 8 of 41

Author: Cory Dobson

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Sanford Burnham Prebys scientists win two American Cancer Society awards

AuthorMonica May
Date

October 1, 2019

Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, Jorge Moscat, PhD, and Maria Diaz-Meco, PhD

Innovation and Collaboration of the Year Awards

The San Diego cancer community—including oncologists, oncology nurses, radiologists, cancer researchers and their friends and family—gathered on September 22 to celebrate progress made in reducing cancer deaths and recognize exceptional individuals and institutions at the inaugural American Cancer Society’s Celebration of Cancer Care Champions in San Diego.

More than 40 finalists were selected, including Sanford Burnham Prebys professors Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, who received the Innovation of the Year award for his team’s creation of a new model for studying a brain tumor that commonly arises in infants; and Jorge Moscat, PhD, and Maria Diaz-Meco, PhD, who received the Collaboration of the Year award for their partnership with clinicians at Scripps Clinic who uncovered a novel way to potentially identify a deadly form of colorectal cancer.

Nominations were reviewed by an independent review committee composed of representatives from 10 leading healthcare and research institutions, including Celgene, Kaiser Permanente, Rady Children’s Hospital, Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center, Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health and more. (Note: Members of the review committee did not score nominations for their own institutions.)

Read on to learn more about our award-winning research:

Innovation of the Year: A new model for studying brain tumors that strike infants
Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, a professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys and program director of the Joseph Clayes III Research Center for Neuro-Oncology and Genomics at the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, was honored for his development of a novel mouse model of a pediatric brain tumor called choroid plexus carcinoma. This tumor most commonly arises in infants under the age of one who are too young to undergo radiation treatment. Until now, drug development has been hindered by the lack of models that could help researchers better understand the cancer. Wechsler-Reya and his team have already used the model to identify potential drug compounds that may be therapeutically useful.

Collaboration of the Year (tie): Novel biomarkers to help detect a deadly colorectal cancer 
Sanford Burnham Prebys professors Jorge Moscat, PhD, and Maria Diaz-Meco, PhD; and Scripps Clinic clinicians Darren Sigal, MD, and Fei Baio, MD, were recognized for their successful collaboration. Together, the researchers revealed that loss of two genes drives the formation of the deadly serrated form of colorectal cancer—yielding promising biomarkers that could identify the tumor type. This insight could lead to the development of a diagnostic test to identify serrated colorectal cancer, a hurdle that previously limited our understanding of this deadly cancer type and the development of effective treatments. The research also identified a combination treatment that has treated the cancer in mice.

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5 things to know about immunotherapy and breast cancer

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

September 30, 2019

Svasti Haricharan, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys

If you follow news about medical breakthroughs, you have undoubtedly heard about immunotherapy to treat cancer.

This form of therapy is designed to prime the body’s own immune system to fight the disease head-on. For some cancers, such as melanoma and lung cancer, immunotherapy has helped patients who once had only a life expectancy of months now live for years. But does it work for other cancers?

We sat down with Svasti Haricharan, PhD, assistant professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys and recipient of a Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Award to discuss where we are with immunotherapy and breast cancer. Here are five things she wants us to know.
 

  1. As scientists, our job is to understand the biology of why immunotherapy works for some cancers but not others. Our goal is to develop approaches to expand the benefits of immunotherapy to as many patients as possible. With breast cancer, we are still in the early days, but there has been some success. Earlier this year a type of immunotherapy called an “immune checkpoint inhibitor” was approved to treat certain types of metastatic breast cancer. But immunotherapy doesn’t work—yet—for all breast cancers.
     
  2. No two breast cancers are alike. Even though two women with breast cancer may have the same size tumor, the individual characteristics of the tumor—the receptors, the genetics, even the way the tumor cells gather fuel to grow, can differ. Just as importantly, the way each woman’s body reacts to the growing cancer is predicated by her immune history: her exposure to immunological challenges, the strength of the immune response her body is capable of mounting, and how long she can sustain an immune response. These factors strongly influence the likelihood that a patient will respond to a specific therapy. The more we drill down on breast tumors, and the tricks they use to evade the immune system, the closer we get to outsmarting them.
     
  3. Today, immunotherapy seems to work best for triple negative breast cancer. Triple negative means three types of receptors—estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER2—are not expressed on the cancer cells. Cancers that express these receptors are easier to treat because these receptors can be targeted directly. We believe part of the reason why immunotherapy is effective for triple negative breast cancer is because these cells can grow rapidly and produce more neoantigens—altered tumor proteins that have not previously been recognized by the immune system. So, these tumors may already have immune cells infiltrating the tumor, and when unleashed via immunotherapy, they can readily attack the cancer. 
     
  4. Immunotherapy—at least the immune checkpoint agents that are used today—target a protein called PD-1 found on T cells, which are the immune cells that roam the body looking for disease. PD-L1 is another protein found on some normal and some cancer cells. When PD-1 attaches to PD-L1, T cells are queued to leave the cell alone and not attack it. We believe cancer cells use PD-L1 to protect themselves from the immune system, and that cancers with large amounts of PD-L1 are the most likely to respond to checkpoint inhibitors. It’s possible that testing breast tumors for PD-L1 levels will help identify more women likely to benefit from these drugs. 
     
  5. Collaboration is key. Although we like to think of scientists as having “Eureka” moments, the reality is that much of the progress we make is incremental. We painstakingly plan, control and execute experiments—gathering and analyzing data to open new avenues that can be tested in the clinic. Working alongside professionals who are responsible for patient outcomes is an important part of the research spectrum. Their input provides direction for our goal of achieving cures—and a means to evaluate if what started in the lab will work in the clinic. There are nearly 300 clinical trials currently ongoing that are testing immunotherapeutic approaches for breast cancer. The information we gather from these trials helps guide the future of what we do next in the laboratory. Advances will be made, and progress is on the horizon.
     
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Year in review: SBP highlights from 2018

AuthorMonica May
Date

December 17, 2018

Sanford Burnham Prebys 2018 Year in Review

The science never stops at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), and 2018 was no different. 

From an Alzheimer’s breakthrough to advancing promising medicines for pancreatic cancer and autoimmune disorders, our hardworking scientists were busy at the bench and beyond. As the year comes to a close, we are sharing a selection of our most widely read stories from the past 12 months. 

1.    Scientists uncover a potential near-term treatment for Alzheimer’s disease 
Jerold Chun, MD, PhD, and his team revealed that never-before-seen DNA recombination in the brain is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The research suggests that existing FDA-approved drugs to treat HIV might hold potential as near-term Alzheimer’s treatments and provide an explanation for why previous clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease have failed. The study was published in Nature.

2.    SBP women awarded American Heart Association Fellowships
The American Heart Association awarded grants to three SBP scientists. This funding advances projects that align with the organization’s mission of building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke. 

3.    Compound discovered at SBP enters Phase 1 clinical trial for pancreatic cancer
Solid tumors are often surrounded by thick fibrotic walls, making it hard for treatments to get access to the tumor cells. CEND-1, a drug candidate discovered in the lab of Erkki Ruoslahti, MD, PhD, has entered a Phase 1 clinical trial for metastatic pancreatic cancer. CEND-1 streamlines the delivery of cancer drugs deep into tumors. CEND-1 was licensed to the private company DrugCendR Inc. in 2015. 

4.    Scientists solve a medical mystery
Hudson Freeze, PhD, and his team joined collaborators around the globe to crack the case of Saul-Wilson syndrome, a rare form of dwarfism with an unknown cause. Now, the 14 known people with the syndrome and their families have answers: A gene alteration that affects the cell’s protein packager, the Golgi complex, causes the condition. 

5.    Immune therapy developed through SBP and Lilly collaboration enters Phase 1 clinical trial
A therapy that arose from a research collaboration between Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) and SBP entered a Phase 1 clinical trial. The therapy is a biologic that inhibits inflammation—a common response linked to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and inflammatory bowel disease.

Interested in keeping up with SBP’s latest discoveries, upcoming events and more? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Discoveries.

To help SBP scientists focus on pioneering research that transforms human health, donate now. 

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Parents gain answers about their child’s mysterious condition, thanks to SBP scientists

AuthorMonica May
Date

December 11, 2018

Hudson Freeze, PhD, Sanford Burnham Prebys

For the parents of a six-year-old Hispanic boy and a seven-year-old Qatari girl, answers remained elusive. Both children had alarming symptoms, including developmental delays, uncontrollable seizures and “floppy baby syndrome” (hypotonia). But despite doctors’ best efforts, the origin of the disease remained unknown. 

Now, these two children are linked by rare mutations in a gene called FUK—providing their families and doctors a better understanding of the cause of their medical conditions. Using biochemical techniques to analyze the boy’s cells, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute (SBP) scientists determined that a malfunctioning enzyme called fucokinase is to blame—caused by a mutation in the FUK gene. Because cells from the girl weren’t available, computer modeling was used—and indicated this same mutation likely caused the disease. The study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Like a molecular spark plug, the fucokinase enzyme ignites one step in a cellular communication cascade—which culminates in the linkage of a sugar, fucose, to another carbohydrate. This final fucose-carbohydrate product is important for immune system regulation, tissue development, cell adhesion (“stickiness” to the environment) and more. 

Based on these findings, the scientists now know the condition is a congenital disorder of glycosylation (CDG), an umbrella term for disorders caused by abnormal linking of sugars to cellular building blocks, including proteins, fats (lipids) and carbohydrates. Although more than 130 types of CDGs exist, the boy and girl are the only known living individuals who have this mutation. 

“Our hope is that by reporting this information, we will help doctors grant more answers to patients and their loved ones,” says Hudson Freeze, PhD, senior author of the paper and director and professor of the Human Genetics Program at SBP. “Based on our findings, genetic databases around the world will now note this mutation causes disease—a potentially life-changing shortcut in the quest for answers.” 

The researchers analyzed skin and immune cells that were collected from the boy. They observed reductions in the amount of the fucokinase enzyme—as much as 80 percent in skin cells and more than half in immune cells, compared to a control protein. Consistent with these findings, downstream products typically created by fucokinase weren’t incorporated into the final fucose-carbohydrate product—indicating the enzyme was not working.

Because cells from the girl were not available, the scientists used computer modeling to predict the impact of her FUK gene mutation. This approach indicated the mutation occurs at an important site on the enzyme that would likely cause disease.

“We know that dampening down the activity of the FUK gene is linked to metastatic cancer—a deadly event that occurs when tumors gain the ability to travel throughout the body,” says Freeze. “In addition to providing long-awaited answers to these families, these findings could help us understand how certain cancers spread throughout the body, including liver, colorectal and skin cancers (melanoma).” 

Both children were identified through the National Institutes of Health’s Undiagnosed Diseases Network, which is designed to accelerate discovery and innovation in the way patients with previously undiagnosed diseases are diagnosed and treated. 

Additional study authors include: Jill Rosenfeld, Lisa Emrick, MD, Lindsay Burrage, MD, PhD, Brendan Lee, MD, PhD, William Craigen, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine; Mahim Jain, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; David Bearden, MD, University of Rochester School of Medicine; and Brett Graham, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine and Indiana University School of Medicine. The study’s DOI is https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.10.021

Research reported in this story was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R01DK099551, U01HG007709, and K08DK106453; Baylor College of Medicine Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (U54 HD083092), Diana & Gabriel Wisdom and the Rocket Fund. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. 

Interested in keeping up with SBP’s latest discoveries, upcoming events and more? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Discoveries.

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Scholarship honoring late SBP scientist Eric Dudl awarded at Cancer Center Open House

AuthorMonica May
Date

November 28, 2018

Gaurav Pathria, Garth Powis- Eric Dudle Scholarship

Twelve years ago, Eric Dudl had begun his postdoctoral research at Sanford Burnham Prebys Biomedical Research Institute (SBP) when he received shocking news. He had the same disease he was working to eradicate: cancer. 

Despite his diagnosis, Eric didn’t stop working. He returned to the lab after a day of hospital treatments—hoping his research might be able to help others, even if he couldn’t help himself. But the cancer was aggressive, and nine months later he passed. He was 33. 

Today, Eric’s memory lives on with the Eric Dudl Endowed Scholarship Award. This program recognizes an exceptional postdoctoral researcher working on cancer. Garth Powis, D. Phil., professor and director of SBP’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, selects awardees based on their demonstrated dedication and passion for cancer research. 

This year’s recipient is Gaurav Pathria, PhD, a senior postdoctoral associate at SBP in the laboratory of Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, a professor at the NCI-designated Cancer Center. Pathria received the scholarship at SBP’s Cancer Center Open House in November. 

“This award is special to me because it is more than a grant—it’s also incredibly inspiring,” says Pathria. “If a sick person can have such zeal and motivation to try to cure this terrible disease, then people in health can truly give it their all.”

After the award ceremony, attendees had the opportunity to speak with SBP’s cancer scientists during poster discussions and presentations. Topics ranged from the microbiome’s response to cancer therapy, how pancreatic cancer cells “eat” and the way breast cancer cells communicate. 

Due to this engaging format, the event has attracted large crowds since its launch. This year a record 110 people attended. 

Pathria’s focus: making existing medicines work again

Lately, restricting nutrients has garnered interest as an approach to treating cancer. However, scientists are now learning that in response to nutrient limitation, cancer cells often find alternative ways to gather food, grow and survive. For patients, this means the cancer returns, and often in a more aggressive form. 

Road Closed sign​
Pathria is working to identify the escape routes
melanoma uses to keep growing. Then, scientists
could potentially block them—and kill the cancer.

“Imagine you are taking the freeway, but you hit traffic. You may take the next exit and drive on side streets to avoid congestion and still reach your destination,” explains Pathria. “Cancer cells operate similarly. When they experience road blocks—such as lack of nutrients—they find alternate routes.” 

Pathria is working to identify these alternative growth pathways, with a focus on melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer. Once all these escape routes have been mapped, scientists could potentially block them—and kill the cancer.

 

Pathria cites the example of BRAF inhibitors for melanoma, a targeted treatment sometimes called a miracle drug. The medicine is remarkably effective, but patients often develop resistance—sometimes in as little as months. 

“We have medicines on the shelf today that work—it’s just that cancer cells are smarter,” Pathria says. “If we knew the alternative paths the cancer cells take to continue growing after treatment, we could block each route—similar to placing a barrier at a freeway exit to capture an outlaw. This means we could stop treatment resistance and potentially make existing drugs work again.”

Pathria’s work has already identified an alternative growth pathway that melanoma cells use when they don’t have enough nutrients. The discovery was published in EMBO Journal. But these findings are only the beginning for his work. 

“I know I want to dedicate my life to solving the riddle of cancer’s resistance pathways—though I certainly hope it doesn’t take a lifetime to do so,” Pathria says. “Knowing Eric Dudl’s story—and receiving an award in his honor—only inspires me to work even harder to conduct excellent science that leads to better cancer treatments.”

Read more about the Eric Dudl Endowed Scholarship Fund, including an opportunity to donate. 

Interested in keeping up with SBP’s latest discoveries, upcoming events and more? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Discoveries.

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World-renowned scientists speak at SBP’s symposium on a booming research area: epigenetics

AuthorMonica May
Date

November 28, 2018

Epigenetics Symposium-Lorenzo Puri, Ani Deshpande, Peter Adams

DNA contains more information than scientists previously thought. A booming field of research called epigenetics is uncovering DNA alterations that affect whether genes are turned on or off—without changing a single base pair. 

These epigenetic changes may be physical, such as winding or unwinding DNA to change its accessibility—akin to opening or closing a door. Other changes can be chemical, such as adding molecular tags that turn genes on or off—like a highlighter calling out special text to a reader. 

On October 29, 2018, more than 300 scientists gathered at SBP’s 39th Annual Symposium to hear the latest connections between epigenetics and development, aging, and diseases such as cancer. Researchers are particularly interested in this field because modifying epigenetic changes could be easier than editing the body’s underlying genetic code—and advances are leading to new medicines. 

Organized by SBP professors Peter Adams, PhD; Ani Deshpande, PhD; and Lorenzo Puri, MD, PhD, the event’s speakers hailed from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and other world-renowned institutions. 

Tweet by scientists praising the symposium ​
  USC assistant professor Bérénice A. Benayoun, PhD,
  praised the symposium on Twitter

After a welcome by SBP’s President Kristiina Vuori, MD, PhD, talks commenced on topics ranging from the role of epigenetics in prostate cancer, development of the heart and aging. Unpublished work was frequently presented, meaning that attendees received the most up-to-date results available. 

A full list of speakers is listed below. To read more insights, follow #SBPsymposium on Twitter. And be sure to look out for next year’s symposium, which will focus on neurodegenerative diseases.

  • Anne Brunet, Stanford University – Epigenetic and metabolic regulation of aging 
  • Chris Glass, University of California, San Diego – Nature and nurture of tissue resident macrophages 
  • Cigall Kadoch, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School – Structure and function of mammalian SWI/SNF complexes in human cancer 
  • Manolis Kellis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – From genomics to therapeutics: dissection and manipulation of human disease circuitry at single-cell resolution 
  • Peter Lewis, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery – Mechanistic dissection of oncogenic histone mutations 
  • Barbara Meyer, University of California, Berkeley – Dynamic control of X-chromosome topology and gene expression during development via chromatin modification and condensing 
  • Raul Mostoslavsky, Harvard Medical School – Linking epigenetics, metabolism and cancer: new clues from SIRT6
  • Bing Ren, University of California, San Diego – Remodeling of chromatin organization during human cardiomyocyte differentiation 
  • Peggy Farnham, University of Southern California – CRISPR-mediated deletion of prostate cancer risk elements identifies repressive chromatin loops 
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Team SBP raises more than $30,000—and counting—for cancer research at Padres Pedal the Cause

AuthorMonica May
Date

November 27, 2018

Team Sanford Burnham Prebys-Padres Pedal the Cause

More than 60 scientists, staff and supporters of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) ran, walked, biked and volunteered to raise critical funding for local cancer research at the 2018 Padres Pedal the Cause fundraising event. The team joined more than 2,500 individuals, including San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, with a shared vision: a world without cancer. 

Nearly everyone’s life has been touched by cancer, and this was no different for the individuals on team SBP. Some team members participated in honor of loved ones who had successfully beaten cancer—or had survived cancer themselves. Others joined to support research that will yield the cutting-edge cancer treatments of the future—such as personalized therapies, immunotherapies (medicines that harness an individual’s own immune system) and more. 

Nick Cosford, PhD, a cancer survivor himself and deputy director of SBP’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, took the stage to explain how Padres Pedal the Cause funding has sparked discoveries at SBP—such as allowing a potential pancreatic cancer treatment to enter clinical trials. Seed funding provided by events such as Padres Pedal the Cause enables SBP scientists to complete the work required before applying for larger research grants, such as those from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Fundraising isn’t over—donations are accepted until December 8—but to date, team SBP has raised more than $31,000. 

Want to help Padres Pedal the Cause meet its fundraising goal of $3 million? Support our team. 

Read the San Diego Union-Tribune’s story about the event. Or see the team in action! 
 

Interested in keeping up with SBP’s latest discoveries, upcoming events and more? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Discoveries.

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Meeting the “man who saved my son’s life”

AuthorMonica May
Date

November 15, 2018

Saraa and Baraa Ghoniem and Hudzon Freeze-CDG

“I’ve got really cool stuff in my body,” 6-year-old Baraa Ismail proclaimed to Hudson Freeze, PhD, professor in the Human Genetics program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP).

And, indeed, he does. 

Baraa and his mother, Sara, didn’t know it at the time, but he was born with a rare change in his DNA that interfered with his body’s ability to attach a sugar to proteins—altering the course of his life. 

From birth, Baraa struggled with eating. He dealt with upset stomachs and lethargy, which is unusual for a young child. Sara searched high and low for an answer, but doctor visit after doctor visit, year after year, Baraa remained undiagnosed. 

After four years of uncertainty, Sara connected with Dr. Tawhida Yassin Abdel Ghaffar. She suspected a rare condition called congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) and ordered a test. Her instincts were correct—Baraa had one form of CDG. More than 130 types of the condition exist.  

In addition to working with her doctor, Sara was introduced to a new online community of parents and individuals with CDG. It was through a private Facebook group that she connected with another parent whose child has CDG. He told her, “You have to talk to Hudson Freeze at SBP.”

For more than three decades, Freeze and his team have studied CDG with the ultimate goal of developing a treatment. When Freeze heard from Sara, he recommended that she talk to her doctor about giving Baraa mannose, a nutritional supplement. 

Years ago Freeze helped discover that mannose can treat one specific form of CDG—incredibly reversing symptoms as quickly as days sometimes (note: Freeze is not a medical doctor). But it only works if a person has one kind of mutation; treatments are still limited for the 129 other types of CDG that exist. Freeze reasoned that even if he didn’t have Baraa’s genetic sequence in hand, if the boy had that mutation, the mannose would work. 

Incredibly, it did. Within a month, Baraa’s energy was back. And today, Baraa is a Flash-loving, book-devouring little boy who loves to run and sing. 

Baraa was doing so well that Sara even decided to take a vacation for the first time in years. She and Baraa traveled from their home in Egypt to visit her brother in Irvine, California—which happened to be a short drive from SBP. Sara reached out to Freeze, whom she calls “the man who saved my son’s life,” to see if a visit was possible. Freeze was delighted to meet with her and Baraa and give them a tour of his lab. 

“Really, my role was very small in this story,” says Freeze. “But what this illustrates is the importance information has for these families. A simple piece of information changed someone’s life. We’d love to grow so we can eventually become a true hub of information for these families—and help even more people like Sara and Baraa.”  

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5 takeaways from SBP Insights: Breast Cancer

AuthorMonica May
Date

October 29, 2018

Insights:Breast Cancer event

Your sister, your friend, your neighbor. We all know someone affected by breast cancer. It remains the second most common cancer for American women. While less common, men can also get breast cancer. Treatment advances are being made, but we still have more work to do. Modern medicines don’t work for every patient. 

On October 25 the San Diego community visited Sanford Burnham Prebys Biomedical Research Institute (SBP) to hear three unique perspectives on breast cancer—a doctor, scientist and survivor—as part of the Institute’s ongoing SBP Insights series. These interactive events are designed to help the public better understand how research leads to better medicines—told from the perspectives of individuals who are at the front lines of this journey. 

Jorge Moscat, PhD, director and professor of SBP’s Cancer Metabolism and Signaling Networks Program provided a special introduction and Shaina Gross, president and CEO of Susan G. Komen San Diego moderated the discussion. The panelists were Brooke Emerling, PhD, assistant professor at SBP; Rebecca Shatsky, MD, breast cancer oncologist at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health; and Helen Eckman, Ed.D., a breast cancer survivor, associate professor at Brandman University and SBP Community Advisory Board Member. 

“It was wonderful to learn about the collaboration between my oncologist and the research team at SBP. I knew that Dr. Shatsky was doing a research project on breast cancer, but not that she was also working with SBP,” says Cindy Goodman, an event attendee and supporter of SBP’s Fishman Fund, which provides grant funding to exceptional postdoctoral scholars. “For anyone who has to undergo treatment for breast cancer, the discussion clearly demonstrated that we are in the right place, at the right time, with the right people.”

After a brief presentation from each speaker, audience members were able to pose questions to the panel. Below are some of the key insights generated from the informational and at-times emotional discussion. 

  1. Trust your instincts. A doctor thought strange spots on Eckman’s mammogram were camera error and asked her to return in six months for a re-test. Her gut told her otherwise and she insisted on another mammogram right away—which found metastatic breast cancer. Shatsky echoed this advice, recommending that in addition to regular self-breast exams, pay attention to what is normal for your own body. Then you can spot when something is “off.”
  2. Most women don’t have a family history of breast cancer. Only 10 to 15 percent of breast cancer cases are due to inherited genes that increase breast cancer risk, such as BRCA 1 and BRCA 2. Breast cancer can occur in anyone.
  3. Every tumor is unique. Like us, our cancer is unique—both in terms of genetics and how it interacts with its environment. The panel agreed personalized medicines are the future of breast cancer treatment.
  4. Tomorrow’s breakthroughs stem from today’s research. Because of research, we now know that breast cancer isn’t one disease—but actually 25 different subtypes. And scientists can now work to find effective treatments for each. For example, Emerling is working on a potential targeted treatment for the triple negative subtype—which lacks hormone receptors and thus is difficult to treat.
  5. Cures come from collaboration. Communication between scientists and doctors will lead to breast cancer treatments. Indeed, Shatsky and Emerling are part of breast-cancer focused disease team at SBP. They noted the insights gained from these discussions are invaluable. 

The next SBP Insights focuses on heart disease and will be held on February 7, 2019. Visit: sbpdiscovery.org/insights

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SBP scientist awarded Susan G. Komen® and NIH grants to advance breast cancer research

AuthorMonica May
Date

October 25, 2018

Svasti Haricharan, PhD

Breast cancer remains the second most common cancer for American women. While treatment advances are being made, more research is needed. Current treatments don’t work for every woman.
 
Now, breast cancer researcher Svasti Haricharan, PhD, assistant professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), has been awarded more than half a million dollars in combined grants from Susan G. Komen® and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

This funding will advance Haricharan’s breast cancer research—including developing a diagnostic test that could guide therapeutic options—and allow her to apply lessons from breast cancer to additional cancers. 

Susan G. Komen grant

The majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have the estrogen-positive (ER-positive) form, meaning the tumor grows in response to estrogen. Hormone therapies (anti-estrogen drugs) that block estrogen—and thus stop the tumor from growing—are available. However, this treatment doesn’t work for 40 percent of women with ER-positive breast cancer. 

“Currently, doctors are unable to predict which ER-positive patients will respond to treatment—so an estrogen-blocking medicine is given, and a ‘wait and see’ approach is taken to see if the treatment will work,” says Haricharan. “However, if a woman doesn’t respond to treatment, during this time the tumor is instead still growing and may metastasize—when it becomes deadlier and even harder to treat. Knowing upfront if an individual will respond to treatment allows doctors to skip a treatment that won’t work and move immediately to prescribing a medicine that may be effective.” 

Haricharan’s previous work found that about one-third of women with ER-positive breast cancer who were treatment resistant had a mutation in DNA damage-repair genes—providing a potential biomarker that could predict who would respond to treatment. 

Luckily, an FDA-approved test that detects defects in DNA damage repair is currently available for colorectal cancer patients. The grant from Susan G. Komen enables Haricharan to evaluate whether this same test can be used to predict response to anti-estrogen drugs in ER-positive breast cancer patients. 

Additionally, research from Haricharan’s previous lab identified a medicine that is FDA approved for advanced or metastatic breast cancer patients and holds potential as a frontline breast cancer treatment (the first treatment prescribed by a doctor). The grant will allow her to bring these pieces of the puzzle together—developing a predictive test and evaluating a potential alternative treatment. 

“Because an FDA-approved test is already on the market, development of a breast cancer test to predict response to hormone therapy may be accelerated. I’d estimate my work could enable a commercially available test in less than five years—though of course a real-world assessment will be needed to obtain doctor and insurance-company approval,” says Haricharan. “Pairing a new test that can guide therapeutic options with a potential treatment would be an important advance for ER- positive breast cancer. I want to express my greatest thanks to Susan G. Komen for funding this important work.” 

NIH grant

Haricharan was also awarded a K22 grant from the NIH, which helps early-career scientists transition to independent research careers. This grant will allow her to apply insights from her breast cancer research to additional cancers. 

Studies have indicated there are links between the growth of colorectal and bladder tumors and estrogen response. While women are less frequently diagnosed with bladder cancer, they tend to have a greater risk of dying from the disease. In contrast, estrogen may have a protective effect on the development of colorectal cancers. 

The NIH grant will enable Haricharan to work to better understand the role DNA damage-repair mutations may play in response to standard-of-care treatment for ER-positive breast, colorectal and bladder cancers. Once this role has been established, the grant will help fund a search for effective targeted treatments.

“Both bladder and colorectal cancers are often caught at a late stage, when the cancer is harder to treat,” says Haricharan. “I hope that this research will ultimately yield tests that can predict response to treatment and guide treatment options for these deadly cancers.” 

Link to the NIH grant: A pan-cancer role for MUTL loss in inducing treatment resistance 

More information about the Susan G. Komen grant: Susan G. Komen Announces $26 Million Investment in New Research to Find Solutions for Aggressive and Metastatic Breast Cancers, and to Help Communities Most at Risk
 

Interested in keeping up with SBP’s latest discoveries, upcoming events and more? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Discoveries.