This is the twice-per-month electronic newsletter for basic, preclinical and translational research news related to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Please forward freely. Direct comments or questions to Joanna Downer, PhD, in the Office of Corporate Communications (410-614-5105, jdowner1@jhmi.edu).
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IN THIS ISSUE:
+ Hedgehog Signal Distinguishes Lethal from Localized Prostate Cancers
+ Two-Drug Combo Attacks Tumor and Blood Vessel Development
NEWS BRIEFS:
Reminder: Add New Researchers to Animal Protocols
Oct. 4 Conference on Race and Genetics
New Faculty Orientation Oct. 19
Animal Care and Use Seminars
HONORS AND AWARDS:
Boeke Receives Herskowitz Award
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Do you have an interesting research finding about one month from publication or presentation? Send manuscripts to Joanna Downer at jdowner1@jhmi.edu or fax to 410-614-8951. Information about awards and honors received by laboratory personnel and others is welcomed also.
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
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9/12/04
Hedgehog Signal Distinguishes Lethal from Localized Prostate Cancers
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that activity of the developmental signal Hedgehog in cancer cells might be able to distinguish lethal metastatic prostate cancers from those restricted to the walnut-size organ.
If future studies show their test can predict which prostate cancers will spread, the results could revolutionize decision making processes for prostate cancer patients, the researchers say.
Most prostate cancers grow slowly, making "watchful waiting" a common alternative to immediate surgical removal of the prostate. However, there's no sure-fire way to tell whose cancer will spread -- a development that despite aggressive treatment is usually fatal.
"If we can use Hedgehog activity to predict whether a tumor will metastasize, we will have a great diagnostic tool, but manipulating the Hedgehog signaling pathway may also offer a completely new way to treat metastatic prostate cancer," says David Berman, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology, urology and oncology.
In the Sept. 12 advance online section of Nature, the Hopkins researchers report that only three of 12 localized prostate tumors obtained at surgery had detectable activity of the Hedgehog signaling pathway. In contrast, all 15 samples of metastatic prostate cancers, donated at patients' deaths, had Hedgehog activity, which was 10 to 100 times higher than the highest levels seen in localized tumors.
In experiments with mice, fellow Sunil Kahadkar, MD, showed that blocking the Hedgehog signal with daily injections of either a natural plant compound called cyclopamine or an antibody slowed and even reversed growth of implanted prostate tumors.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/09_12_04a.html
Nature (Published in the Advance Online section, Sept. 12)
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature02962_r.html
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9/15/04
Two-Drug Combo Attacks Tumor and Blood Vessel Development
By studying tumor-bearing mice and cancer cells in the lab, Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have discovered that a combination of two drugs -- an anti-angiogenesis drug and a histone deacetylase inhibitor -- is more effective than the use of either agent alone.
Cancer researchers have long suggested that new targeted drugs may work best when paired with other therapies. The researchers' work, described in the Sept. 15 issue of Cancer Research, represents some of the first steps to prove this synergy. The early results are so promising that preliminary testing of the drug combination in humans is now being planned.
"Our idea is to attack the way cancers form new blood vessels by disrupting the angiogenesis process in two different cells -- in the endothelial cells that form blood vessels and in the cancer cells themselves," says Roberto Pili, MD, assistant professor of oncology at the Kimmel Cancer Center.
In mice bearing prostate tumors, using the agents together reduced tumor growth by 85 %. In these mice, using the anti-angiogenesis drug alone reduced growth by just 35 %, and the histone deacetylase inhibitor alone reduced growth by 75 %. In mice bearing breast tumors, the combination reduced growth by 80 %, while the single-drug regimens reduced growth by 60 % or less.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/09_16_04.html
Cancer Res 2004;64(18):6626-6634
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/64/18/6626
(This article is available free of charge from a Welch Library terminal or through a personal subscription, or for a $12 fee from the journal website. For more information, visit http://www.welch.jhu.edu/eresources/notice_aacr.html .)
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Reminder: Add New Researchers to Animal Protocols -- Now that new students and others have arrived on campus, the Animal Care and Use Committee reminds investigators that all persons working with animals must complete online animal care and use training (https://secure.lwservers.net/default.cfm ), be listed on an approved animal research protocol and be enrolled in the Animal Exposure Surveillance Program (AESP). To enroll in AESP call 410-614-1129 or go to 98 N. Broadway, Room 421. To gain card access to animal facilities, individuals also must be listed on an approved protocol. To add an individual to a protocol, complete the Personnel Amendment Form (http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare/forms1.html ) and submit it to the IACUC office.
http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare/
Oct. 4 Conference on Race and Genetics -- The Congressional Black Caucus and The Johns Hopkins University will host a meeting of African American leaders to examine issues in race and genetics on Oct. 4. The meeting, entitled IMAGN! Increasing Minority Awareness of Genetics-Now!, will address the current status of genetic medicine, future directions for genetics research, and the potential uses -- or misuses -- of genetics outside of the medical context.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/09_22_04.html
New Faculty Orientation Oct. 19 -- The 4th Annual New Faculty Welcome and Orientation will be held Tuesday, Oct. 19, from 8 am until 5 pm in the Tilghman Auditorium (Turner Building). A reception will follow. Meet the leadership of Johns Hopkins Medicine, learn about various services and enjoy lunch. For more information contact Janice Clements, PhD, Vice Dean for Faculty, at facaffairs@jhmi.edu or 410-955-8401.
Animal Care and Use Seminars -- On Oct. 14 starting at 9 am a "Rodent Surgery Class" will be held in Ross 403. This class is limited to 10 people and registration is required (email acuc@jhmi.edu or call 443-287-3744 or 443-287-3738). Also, on Thursday, Oct. 28 at noon in Ross 403, the Animal Care and Use Committee will present "Semiannual inspections: What Do They Mean for You?" On Thursday, Nov. 4, the IACUC, the Office of the Provost and the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing will hold a Town Hall Meeting for Animal Research from 9 am until noon in Tilghman Auditorium (Turner Building).
http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare/training4.html
Boeke Receives Herskowitz Award -- Jef Boeke, PhD, professor of molecular biology and genetics and director of the HighThroughput Biology Center (HiT Center) in the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, received the first Ira Herskowitz award for mid-career scientists at the 2004 Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology meeting in Seattle this past July. The meeting is sponsored by the Genetics Society of America. The award, named last year for a scientist whose accomplishments include determining how budding yeast reorganize their genes in order to switch mating types, recognizes Boeke for his own contributions, particularly his study of "jumping genes," or transposons, in yeast. Herskowitz died in early 2003 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.
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--JHMI--
