New Glioblastoma Research Presented at AACR Annual Meeting

Newswise — Physician-scientists from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center’s Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine presented new research findings in 24 presentations this week at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Chicago, Illinois.

“The breadth and depth of this innovative cancer research presented at AACR is truly outstanding,” says Stan Gerson, MD, Director of the Seidman Cancer Center at UH Case Medical Center and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. “Our faculty members are making tremendous advances in hematology and oncology which is reflected in their being chosen for oral and poster presentations.”

Two innovative studies are investigating novel methods that may help clinicians bring a greater specificity to the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) in the future. GBM is the most common malignant primary brain tumor in adults and also the most aggressive. Median survival time for GBM is approximately 12-15 months.

A study led by Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, PhD, Associate Professor at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, sought to identify protein biomarkers that can help physicians determine which patients may benefit from standard treatment for GBM. Using research tumor samples from patients with short-term survival (defined as < nine months after diagnosis) and patients with long-term survival (who lived greater than 18 months after diagnosis), the investigators found 183 proteins to be significant between survival groups. Biomarkers have been identified in other cancers such as breast and colon but progress in treatment for GBM patients has been slowed by the absence of biomarkers to define treatment response.

“This has the potential to enable physicians to tailor individualized treatments for specific brain cancer patients,” said Andrew Sloan, MD, Co-Investigator on the study and Director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at UH Case Medical Center and Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “Current standards are to treat every patient in the same fashion but if we can identify who will benefit from specific therapies, this represents an important step forward for brain tumor treatment.”

The researchers are also validating these results against clinical tumor samples from another group of patients. In addition to verifying their results in this way, Dr. Barnholtz-Sloan said the hope is to do a larger study involving all the hospitals in the Ohio Brain Tumor Study, a multi-site consortium within Ohio, and to eventually develop a test for patients that could be used in a typical hospital clinical setting in order to select patients for either standard treatment or an alternative treatment.

Monday, April 21279/25 - Proteomics signature of long-term versus short-term survival in glioblastoma Authors: Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, Giridharan Gokulrangan, Yanwen Chen, Elizabeth Yohannes, Jaime Vengoechea, Andrew E. Sloan, Mark ChancePoster Session: Tissue-Based Approaches8:00 AM - 12:00 PM McCormick Place West (Hall F), Poster Section 9

The second study, led by Vishal Patel, a MD/PHD student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, in collaboration with Drs. Sloan and Barnholtz-Sloan and Dr. Mark Chance, Vice Dean for Research and Director of the Proteomics and Bioinformatics Center at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, utilized a “systems” approach to finding networks of genes that may characterize short-term GBM survivors from long-term GBM survivors, rather than looking for individual proteins.

“The systems approach looks at a ‘symphony’ of proteins, rather than the ‘solo players’ that the first study used,” said Dr. Sloan. “We looked at groups of related proteins connected to patient survival”.

In the study, the investigators found that eight network targets were significantly differentially expressed between short-term and long-term survivors, and expression levels of three of the proteins predicted short term versus long term survival with 75 percent or more accuracy.

The studies were funded by National Cancer Institute grants to Case Western Reserve University as well as Case Comprehensive Cancer Center pilot funds and the Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics at Case Western Reserve University.

Wednesday, April 44936/6 - Network signatures of survival in glioblastoma multiforme Authors: Vishal Patel, Giridharan Gokulrangan, Salim Chowdhury, Yanwen Chen, Andrew Sloan, Mehmet Koyuturk, Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, Mark ChancePoster Session: Cancer Systems Biology 28:00 AM - 12:00 PM McCormick Place West (Hall F), Poster Section 3

Other presentations of note include:

Tuesday, April 34696/24 - Expression of the DNA repair protein UNG predicts lung cancer sensitivity to pemetrexed Authors: Lachelle D. Weeks, Stanton L. Gerson, Lili LiuPoster Session: Cell Death and the Modulation of DNA Repair1:00 - 5:00 PM McCormick Place West (Hall F), Poster Section 30

Wednesday, April 45711/30 - Applying new light to the detection and treatment of brain cancers using targeted photodynamic therapy Authors: Joseph D. Meyers, Ann-Marie Broome, Yu Cheng, Richard S. Agnes, Xinning Wang, Malcolm E. Kenney, Clemens Burda, James P. Basilion Poster Session: Novel Drug Delivery Strategies 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM McCormick Place West (Hall F), Poster Section 33

About University HospitalsUniversity Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians. At the core of our health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org

About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation’s top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School’s innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the school of medicine.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report “Guide to Graduate Education.”

The School of Medicine’s primary affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu.

About Case Comprehensive Cancer CenterThis research was supported by the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) - designated Comprehensive Cancer Center located at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. NCI-designated cancer centers are characterized by scientific excellence and the capability to integrate a diversity of research approaches to focus on the problem of cancer. Led by Stanton Gerson, MD, Asa and Patricia Shiverick- Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology, director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and director of the Seidman Cancer Center at UH Case Medical Center. The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, now in its 22nd year of funding, integrates the cancer research activities of the largest biomedical research and health care institutions in Ohio – Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth Medical Center.