breast cancer research • mcb as pre-med - The School of Molecular ...

enIta Katzenellenbogen
“We now understand the underpinnings of cancer much more so than ever before,” says
Benita Katzenellenbogen, Swanlund Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and
Swanlund Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Katzenellenbogen has worked for much of her career to understand the biology of the ER
and how and why “selective estrogen receptor modulators” (SERMs) like tamoxifen and
raloxifene work.
SERMs, common and useful drugs for endocrine therapies, bind to the estrogen receptor,
blocking estrogen. When estrogen cannot bind to the ER, breast cancer cells cannot proliferate
as easily.
Among the other findings from her lab, Katzenellenbogen’s group has shown that when
SERMs bind to the ER, they put the ER into a different conformation. “As a consequence,
they antagonize the stimulatory activities of the receptor and can quite effectively reduce
proliferation and increase apoptosis,” she says.
Katzenellenbogen also has found that ERs encode proteins for about 5% of genes in the
breast cancer cell genome, meaning that 1,000 or more genes are regulated by this ER. It’s
because the ER regulates these genes that it has such an important effect in breast cancer
cells, says Katzenellenbogen.
Related to understanding the cell biology of breast cancer tumors is the need to understand
drug-resistant breast cancers. Her lab has identified a protein that is upregulated during
treatment with tamoxifen. The presence of that protein is associated with a poor treatment
outcome. Katzenellenbogen is confident that this protein is associated with breast cancer’s
ability to resist tamoxifen. Her lab is now investigating whether reducing the level of this
protein can lead to more successful treatment.
Benita S. Katzenellenbogen is a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and
recently served as president of the Endocrine
Society. She has published more than 300
research articles and co-edited a book on
“Hormone-Dependent Cancer.”
In 2009, Professor Katzenellenbogen received
the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Brinker
Award for Scientific Distinction in basic science
and clinical research. this is the highest award
of merit given by the nation’s leading breast
cancer activism organization.
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister,
Susan G. Komen, she would do everything
in her power to end breast cancer forever.
In 1982, that promise became Susan G.
Komen for the Cure, and launched the global
movement to cure breast cancer.
SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY . 5