SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2004 - Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

C L I N I C A L O N C O L O G Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M
HIGHLIGHTS/DISCOVERIES
• Collaborated on a phase I trial of arginine
deiminase in melanoma with promising results.
A phase II protocol currently is under development.
• Developed a phase I clinical trial for patients
whose brain tumors expressed a procollagenlike
protein, based on Dr. Feun and Niramol
Savaraj, M.D.’s in vitro discovery that this
protein may predict clinical response to vitamin
D therapy. This trial has been approved by the
Institutional Review Board (IRB); the Investigational
New Drug (IND) application is under
review by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA).
AWTAR GANJU-KRISHAN, PH.D.
Professor of Radiation Oncology
DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH
Most of Dr. Krishan’s current research
focuses on:
• Monitoring of nuclear hormone receptor expression
in human breast and prostate tumors.
Dr. Krishan has developed flow cytometric
methods for determining estrogen, androgen,
and vitamin D receptor expression in archival
human tumors. These methods recently have
been used to determine expression in human
male and female breast tumors and prostate
tumors.
• Evaluating a novel apoptosis assay with antibodies
to ssDNA using flow cytometry; Dr.
Krishan and Oscar Frankfurt, Ph.D., (University
of Miami) have been studying the use of a
novel method for discriminating between
apoptotic and the necrotic cells by laser flow
cytometry, which was recently published.
• Evaluating tumor cells in body fluids using high
resolution flow cytometry; Dr. Krishan and his
colleagues have recently developed a high resolution
flow cytometer with funding from NASA
and the American Cancer Society (ACS). This
instrument can measure nuclear volume and
thus discriminate between normal and tumor
cells. Supported by an exploratory grant from
the NIH-NCI, they are currently examining the
potential of this technique for detecting occult
tumor cells in body fluids from cancer patients.
• Studying androgen receptor expression in human
prostate tumors; Dr. Krishan and May
Abdel-Wahab, M.D., Ph.D., have used flow
cytometric methods to correlate receptor expression
with clinical response in patients on
the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group’s
(RTOG) study of radiation and hormone
therapy in prostate cancer patients.
• Evaluating DNA aneuploidy and S-phase fraction
as indicators of response to chemoradiotherapy
in patients with invasive cervical
carcinoma; Dr. Krishan, Aaron H. Wolfson,
M.D., and Daniel Estape, M.D., are involved
in this project, which is funded by the RTOG
and seeks to use high-resolution flow cytometry
for the analysis of aneuploidy and cell cycle distribution
in human cervical cancer under a
University of Miami IRB-approved protocol.
• Organizing annual Indo-U.S. workshops in
cytomics. These workshops include six to ten
U.S. faculty members along with their Indian
counterparts, who teach the latest methods in
flow cytometry in India. Up to 50 researchers
attend these workshops, and so far, four workshops
have been held in research institutes/
universities in Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jammu,
and Bombay.
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UM/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Scientific Report 2004