Paul Marks prize recognizes 3 young cancer r...(Professor of Pathology and a professor i...),Health

Date:9/28/2009

Professor of Pathology and a professor in the Department of Pathology and Urology at the University of Michigan Medical Center. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator and an American Cancer Society Research Professor. His most important discovery to date is the finding that more than half of all prostate cancers are the result of a gene fusion known as TMPRSS2-ETS. Oncogenic gene fusions result when pieces of chromosomes break apart and reconnect in such a way that they encode for a cancer-causing protein.

Dr. Chinnaiyan made the discovery while studying the genetic changes in a large collection of prostate tumor samples from patients. "At the time, gene fusions were thought to occur only in blood cancers such as leukemias and lymphomas, but not in solid tumors," Dr. Chinnaiyan explained. (The best-known oncogenic fusion gene was BCR-ABL, the cause of chronic myeloid leukemia, which is the target of the drug imatinib [Gleevec].) "We were not looking for these types of genes, so the finding was serendipitous."

Today researchers believe that the TMPRSS2-ETS fusion drives the formation of many prostate cancers, but so far they have been unable to target it and block its activity. Finding small-molecule drugs to inhibit cancer growth is now an important focus of Dr. Chinnaiyan's work. He is also initiating new research projects to look for cancer-causing gene fusions in other solid tumors, including breast cancer. Dr. Chinnaiyan has been active in the wider research community as well, as co-creator of the Oncomine Research Platform, an online database containing cancer gene expression analysis information for academic researchers. He is also a board-certified pathologist and spends part of his time developing and implementing new molecular tests for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer.

"Arul's discovery of this unique fusion in prostate cancer has opened up numerous opportunities for the development of novel diagn
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Contact: Kathleen Gibson gibsonk@mskcc.org 212-639-3573 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Source:Eurekalert

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