April 2005
SKCC's Gennadi Glinsky addresses predicting risk in cancer treatment outcome
SAN DIEGO (April 18, 2005) - Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) Associate Professor Gennadi V. Glinsky, M.D., Ph.D., will present an abstract and provide a press briefing on a method for predicting risk in the treatment outcome of cancer patients at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Dr. Glinsky's presentation is scheduled from 2:55 to 3:10 p.m. Sunday, April 17, and the press conference, "Predicting Risk, Treatment and Outcome Based on Genetic Variables," is scheduled from 9 to 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, April 19.
The methods and conclusions of the research are described in the abstract "A Death from Cancer Signature: Microarray Analysis Identifies the 11-gene BMI-1-Pathway Predicting Therapy Failure and Short Survival of Patients Diagnosed with Multiple Types of Cancer."
A research team led by Dr. Glinsky found that the 11-gene signature expression in tumor cells is a consistent, powerful predictor of therapy outcome. Its presence indicates a short interval to disease recurrence, distant metastasis, and death after therapy in cancer patients diagnosed with 10 distinct types of cancer, including prostate, breast, lung, ovarian, bladder, lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia.
Applying comparative translational genomics, the researchers selected for analysis the 11-gene BMI-1-pathway signature, which is associated with the self-renewal of normal stem cells. What they discovered is that when this pathway is activated in transformed (cancerous) cells, it may contribute to the survival life cycle of cancer stem cells and promotes tumor progression and metastasis.
Thus, when this signature expression is found in tumors, there is a high probability of unfavorable therapy outcome, the researchers concluded. However, if this signature expression is not found in tumor cells, there is a high probability of favorable therapy outcome.
SKCC is in the process of setting-up a clinical trial to evaluate the utility of a genetic test measuring the expression profiles of the 11-gene signature as a prognostic and therapy outcome marker.
Gennadi Victor Glinsky, M.D., Ph.D.
Gennadi Victor Glinsky, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego. He is also a consultant for the National Institutes of Health and serves on the National Cancer Institute Review Panels.
Dr. Glinsky holds membership to numerous professional organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research and the Metastasis Research Society. Dr. Glinsky serves as a reviewer for various journals including the Lancet, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cancer Research, American Journal of Pathology and Oncogene.
Dr. Glinsky earned a doctor of medicine in internal medicine and general pathology. He later received his doctorate in experimental oncology and biochemistry from the Institute of Oncology Problems Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kiev.
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center
Founded in 1990, the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center is a non-profit research institute dedicated to the development of advanced biological cancer treatments, such as gene therapy, angiostatic therapy, vaccine therapy and immunotherapy, and to making those treatments readily available to patients. The National Cancer Institute ranks SKCC as one of the top three cancer centers in the United States in the application of genomics and proteomics to the treatment of specific cancers. For more information, visit www.skcc.org, or contact Jay Jeffcoat, senior vice president of community, government and public relations, at 858-410-4212 or [email protected].