Peter Zhou, M.D., Ph.D.

A grant from The Mary Kay Foundation helped University of Kentucky scientists to identify one way breast cancer cells metastasize (or spread) to other parts of the body. This finding opens new avenues in developing treatments for metastatic tumor cells, which cause about 90 percent of breast cancer deaths. Previous research studies have confirmed that a protein called Snail promotes tumor cell migration. High levels of Snail have been linked to many cancers especially breast cancer.

In this research, scientists found that Snail teams up with an enzyme inside the cell called LSD1, which changes DNA structure and shuts down many genes. "This finding has significant clinical ramification, because chemical compounds or agents that can disrupt the interaction of Snail with LSD1 will have a great potential in developing drugs that can treat metastatic breast cancer," said researcher Peter Zhou.

Kevin A. Janes, Ph.D.

Announced in the 2010 Nature America and the April 2010 issue of Nature Methods, thanks to The Mary Kay Foundation(sm) grant, University of Virginia researcher Kevin Janes used a technique called stochastic profiling to see differences in the ways cells behave even though the cells may look similar. Cancer cells and normal cells have the same genes yet these genes can express themselves in different ways. Stochastic profiling lets researchers identify changes in the way a gene expresses itself by looking at a group of cells instead of analyzing individual cells. Genetic science breakthroughs like this make a cure for cancer one step closer.

Dr. David Kurnit

An article posted July 14, 2009, by Medical News Today, highlighted a study partially funded by The Mary Kay Foundation that showed new testing methods may help lead to early detection of cervical cancer. As reported in the article, researchers found that SEQUENOM’s MassARRAY technology identified the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the cervix missed by standard hybridization tests. The discovery team was led by Dr. David Kurnit, a 2006 cancer research grant recipient at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

The study results showed that “as many as 15% of women in the study group determined to be negative for the presence of HPV in the cervix, via the most commonly used test for HPV DNA, may actually be infected with the virus at clinically relevant viral loads.” To read the complete article, go to: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/157334.php

Dr. Shiladitya Sengupta

In an article posted April 23, 2009, by EmaxHealth, highlighted a study partially funded by The Mary Kay Foundation through a 2007 grant to Dr. Shiladitya Sengupta. According to EmaxHealth, "An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology has demonstrated a better way to deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors by using specially engineered nanoparticles that can inhibit a signaling pathway and deliver a higher concentration of medication to the specific area."  To read the article in its entirety, go to: http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/51/30590/delivering-cancer-drugs-directly-tumors.html

Dr. Roger Greenberg

Location: University of Pennsylvania

The March 15, 2009, issue of Genes & Development reported that a study funded in part by the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation produced a cancer research breakthrough. Led by Dr. Roger Greenberg, a 2008 cancer research grant recipient, researchers found that MERIT40, a previously unknown protein, works with other breast cancer genes to help repair damaged DNA.

Under normal conditions, the breast cancer gene BRCA1 orchestrates the repair of damaged DNA. When the BRCA1 gene is mutated and the repair pathway goes haywire, a woman's vulnerability to breast and ovarian cancers rises because the rate at which genes are altered increases.

Understanding how BRCA1 responds to damaged DNA can help scientists better fight cancer with chemotherapy. Further study of MERIT40 may also lead researchers to find other genes that increase vulnerability to breast cancer.

Dr. James DiRenzo

The Jan. 15, 2007, issue of Cancer Research reported that a study funded in part by the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation produced a cancer research breakthrough. Led by Dr. James DiRenzo, a 2005 grant recipient, researchers linked nestin, a structural protein, to a form of breast cancer. These findings could lead to earlier detection and better treatment. Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School found that nestin could represent a selective biological marker for basal epithelial breast tumors, a highly aggressive cancer.

Dr. Lin Zhang

Dr. Lin Zhang of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a 2007 recipient of a Foundation Cancer Grant has centered his research on the function of microRNA in ovarian cancer. Because of the progress he has made with his research, his findings and results have been featured in five medical publications. He has generated the very first piece of evidence that miRNA exhibits high frequency genomic alterations and its expression is remarkably deregulated in ovarian cancer, strongly suggesting that miRNAs are involved in the initiation and progression of this disease. Indeed, his preliminary studies have identified that several miRNAs may serve as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes in ovarian cancer. Current rapid advances in oligonucleotide/nanoparticle therapy create realistic optimism for the establishment of miRNAs as a new and potent therapeutic target and/or chemoresistant modulator in ovarian cancer.

Dipali Sharma, Ph.D.

Emory University researcher Dipali Sharma, Ph.D. received a grant in 2007 to investigate the role leptin plays in the formation and growth of breast cancer. Leptin is a hormone that has a central role in fat metabolism. Leptin affects cancers such as those of the colon and endothelial tissue, but it plays a significant role in the development of breast cancer because breast tissue is mostly fat. The grant will help Dr. Sharma further study the link between leptin and breast cancer on her quest to find new treatments.

Victoria L. Seewaldt, M.D.

In 2005, a Duke University Medical Center research team led by Victoria L. Seewaldt, M.D., a 2004 cancer grant recipient, identified an alteration or defect in the breast cells of women at high risk for developing breast cancer. The alteration indicates that damage has occurred and that breast cancer may be imminent for half of these women. The defect identified is the "silencing" of a gene called RARbeta2. This gene regulates how breast cells use vitamin A to grow and divide normally. In damaged or cancerous breast cells, the gene is often silenced. Testing is currently available through research studies at Duke and the University of Kansas. The team is also testing various preventive agents such as flaxseed oil and fish oil to see if they eliminate damaged breast cells.

Dr. Richard Schlegel

Dr. Richard Schlegel with Georgetown University Medical School, a 2004 cancer grant recipient, centered his research around developing a topical drug treatment for early cervical cancer. His findings indicated that DHA, an anti-malarial compound, and other artemisinin derivatives may be used for the topical treatment of epithelial papillomavirus lesions, including those that have progressed to the neoplastic state. Georgetown has cofounded a small biotechnology company to evaluate this drug. The company, Frantz Viral Therapeutics, is currently performing confirmatory studies.

Dr. Arul M. Chinnaiyan

The Foundation’s support of research of cancers affecting women has led to a groundbreaking discovery in the research of cancers affecting men. In 2002, Dr. Arul M. Chinnaiyan, co-founder of Compendia Bioscience in Ann Arbor, Mich., received a grant from the Foundation to help fund a revolutionary database designed to study the development of breast cancer. Dr. Chinnaiyan’s database has now been used to generate a landmark discovery of a strong indicator of prostate cancer. Experts in the bioscience industry are excited about Dr. Chinnaiyan’s discovery and believe the database can be instrumental in future discoveries.

Dr. Michael Steller

In May 2001, Dr. Michael Steller, a 1998 grant recipient from Brown University, received FDA approval to conduct a third human trial for his innovative cervical cancer vaccine. In progress for eight years, Dr. Steller’s vaccine attacks the human papillomavirus, which is often found in cervical cancer tumors. The vaccine is given to women already infected with the virus or who have developed cervical cancer, and the results have been very encouraging. One patient who participated in the first study has been disease-free for more than three years, and a patient from the second study is showing remarkable stability in her progress.

Dr. Leif W. Ellisen

Dr. Leif W. Ellisen, a 2004 grant recipient, along with other researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center identified a group of hard-to-treat breast cancers that may be sensitive to the drug, cisplatin, which is rarely used to treat breast tumors. They also have discovered the molecular basis of this sensitivity, which may help identify which patients would likely benefit from cisplatin treatment. The findings are now being tested in a clinical trial developed by Dr. Ellisen and his colleague Dr. Steven Isakoff at the MGH Cancer Center and several other cancer centers around the United States. The MKACF grants funded part of the basic research for this trial.

Sudhansu K. Dey, Ph.D.

In May 2005, Sudhansu K. Dey, Ph.D., a 2004 grant recipient from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, released a report that stated blocking the COX-1 enzyme — not COX-2 — may lead to prevention and possible treatment of the most common and fatal form of ovarian cancer. The finding was based on a study showing COX-1 inhibition slowed the growth of ovarian tumors in a mouse model. Researchers concluded that these results established a need for additional studies and trials that target COX-1 for the prevention and treatment of cancer. He says further studies should also be conducted to see whether aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can block both COX enzymes and improve treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer.