BOCA RATON— Reflective of the growing collaboration between the two institutions and in observance of national Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and Boca Raton Regional Hospital have announced a joint research initiative aimed at predicting breast cancer behavior and developing therapies that will block the metastatic process of the disease.
The preliminary findings of the study were presented at 22nd Biennial European Association of Cancer Research Conference in Barcelona, Spain this summer.
“This initial effort is a watershed moment in our burgeoning research partnership,” said Kathy Shilling, M.D., medical director of Boca Regional’s Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health and Wellness Institute. “It combines our significant strength in clinical breast care with the cutting-edge basic research capabilities of the Schmidt College of Medicine. All of us are excited about this growing collaboration, not just in breast cancer but across the spectrum of our specialties.”
Vijaya Iragavarpu-Charyulu, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical science in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, is collaborating with Schilling, and the project has been designed to evaluate novel metastatic markers in breast cancer patients and to investigate their possible correlation with the aggressiveness of the disease.
Iragavarapu-Charyulu has been studying the role of the immune system and mechanisms involved in breast cancer metastasis. Ramon Garcia-Areas, a Ph.D. student in Iragavarapu-Charyulu’s laboratory, has discovered that a molecule originally expressed during the development of the nervous system is re-expressed during tumor growth and enhances tumor metastatic potential in a breast cancer model.
In order to establish clinical relevancy of these findings, Schilling and her team will provide tissue, blood and tumor samples from breast cancer patients, which will be used to correlate the findings of Iragavarapu-Charyulu’s team and investigate the means to halt the metastatic process.
“These studies could have a long-term predictive value in identifying those at risk for aggressive disease and therefore impact how we design appropriate therapeutics,” said Iragavarpu-Charyulu. “The data obtained from this study are expected to result in publications and in the submission of grant proposals to various funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH).”
Metastasis is responsible for 90 percent of all cancer deaths despite significant improvements in diagnosis and treatments. In 2011, the American Cancer Society estimated that 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed among women, and some 39,520 women are expected to die from breast cancer this year alone.
“We are very pleased to be expanding our collaboration with Boca Raton Regional Hospital,” said David J. Bjorkman, M.D., M.S.P.H., dean of FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. “The promise of developing therapies to block the metastatic process will provide a powerful tool in the armamentarium for combating breast cancer across the globe.”
The funds for this pilot project were provided by the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation.