Courtesy of UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center UCLA Geffen School of
Medicine’s Dr. Charles Sawyers was named
investigator for Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
By Hemesh Patel
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]
A UCLA scientist was honored this week for his work in finding
potential cancer treatments.
Dr. Charles Sawyers, of the David Geffen School of Medicine, was
selected as an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute.
Twelve of the nation’s top medical researchers received
the honor and were selected from of a pool of 138 individuals
nominated by 119 institutions.
“This is definitely the right time to be involved in
cancer research,” Sawyers said. “We’re
reclassifying the way we think about cancer.”
While some researchers focused their studies on AIDS and others
on cancer, all scientists were working toward translating
laboratory results into treatments for patients.
“We were looking for individuals who not only have a solid
track record, but also ask the next set of scientific and medical
questions,” said Avice Meehan, the institute’s vice
president of communications.
Click Here to See Larger Image
“Being selected as an HHMI investigator represents
recognition that the individual is pushing the envelope,” she
added.
By looking at cancer on a molecular level, scientists such as
Sawyers are developing new drugs to specifically target cancer
cells.
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are effective, but do not
distinguish between normal and cancerous cells, Sawyers said. As a
result, these types of treatment can lead to hazardous side
effects.
Sawyers will receive an initial $1 million budget each year to
conduct his research. One of his projects is aiming to find a
better treatment for prostate cancer ““ a disease responsible
for the deaths of 40,000 men each year in the U.S. Sawyers and his
team of researchers are currently studying the effects of
rapamycin, a drug that has stalled tumor growth in laboratory mice.
They examined the disease on a molecular level, when they studied
cancerous cells that lacked the PTEN gene. Scientists have found
that prostate cells that don’t have the PTEN gene produce
cancer.
According to Sawyers, 40 percent of prostate and brain cancer
patients are lacking this gene. Patients that do not have the gene
will likely benefit from drugs, such as rapamycin, that target
cells at the molecular level.
To study the effects of rapamycin in the laboratory, the team
injected human prostate cancer cells into the mice flanks.
Researchers allowed the tumor to grow for five days and then
injected the mice with rapamycin.
“We found that rapamycin stops the growth of cancer cells
lacking the PTEN gene,” said Chris Tran, a research
specialist.
Scientists in Sawyers’ lab are now conducting clinical
trials on men who have prostate cancer and the PTEN gene mutation.
“I think we can target cancer cells and inhibit tumor growth
in humans,” Tran said. “It’s going to
work.”
Sawyers also worked in finding treatment for an adult form of
leukemia. He found that the drug, Gleevec, was effective in
treating the disease because it blocked an abnormal enzyme that was
responsible for causing the cancer.
With drugs that target specific cancer cells, Sawyers hopes
physicians will diagnose the disease at a molecular level, instead
of by particular organs. The award will allow Sawyers to continue
exploring how to treat cancer at a molecular level without spending
time filling out grant requests to fund his research.
Saywers said it will free him up from such responsibilities so
he can maximize his time doing research.
“At the end of the day, practicing science is about asking
questions,” Meehan said. “We still have a very long way
to go.”