Zhang Receives Grant to Study Nanoparticle Use for Uterine Cancer Treatment
Published: 3/21/2018
Xiaoting Zhang, PhD, associate professor in the Department of
Cancer Biology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of
Medicine, has been awarded the 2017 Schaeper Uterine Cancer Pilot
Grant in the amount of $47,500 to help fund his research looking at
the use of nanoparticles to target a certain protein (MED1) in the
treatment of uterine cancers.
"
Endometrial
cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United
States with more than
50,000 women diagnosed annually,” says Zhang, who is
also a member of the Cincinnati Cancer Center and UC Cancer
Institute. "Numerous studies have demonstrated that HER2
overproduction, or overexpression, is associated with progressive
disease and therapy resistance.”
HER2 is a protein known as human epidermal growth factor
receptor 2 which promotes the growth of cancer cells. MED1
co-produces (co-expresses) and co-amplifies with HER2 in most
cases, and Zhang’s previous studies have shown their
interaction plays key roles in anti-estrogen treatment
resistance.
"In contrast to breast cancer, treatment with
anti-HER2-targeted therapies, such as the small molecule chemical
drug lapatinib, has provided no clinical benefit for patients with
recurrent HER2 overexpressing endometrial cancer,” he says.
"Our lab has shown that MED1 is a key HER2 target in both
anti-estrogen and anti-HER2 resistance. Using RNA nanotechnology,
we have
developed RNA
nanoparticles to eliminate MED1 in HER2 overexpressing breast
cancer models, which blocked tumor growth, metastasis and therapy
resistance in both human breast cancer cell lines and animal
models.
"This grant, will help us determine if MED1 is also a driver
of HER2 overexpressing uterine cancer and can be targeted to
improve anti-HER2 therapy resistance.”
Zhang says his team will determine the role of the
interaction, or "crosstalk,” between HER2 and MED1 in uterine
cancer and test the efficacy of targeting MED1 using RNA
nanoparticles to overcome anti-HER2 resistance of uterine
cancers.
"This study will help provide new information on the biology
of HER2-driven uterine cancer and could prove that combination
therapies using RNA nanoparticles in conjunction with FDA-approved
small molecules could be a beneficial therapy for endometrial
cancer,” he says.
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