Cancer Research
Dr. Pemmaraju Rao's work with hormonal steroids has led to significant findings in cancer research, as well as the launch of a new pharmaceutical company focused on hormone-dependant
cancers and women's health issues.
Hormone-Dependent Cancers
In one of SFBR's longstanding research programs, scientists
developed several new derivatives of a steroid that prevents
the effects of the steroid hormone, progesterone. These
compounds are being used to develop new treatments for breast
and prostate cancer, as well as new contraceptive methods. With distinguished expertise and a
large body of work in this area, the SFBR Department of Organic Chemistry was spun off in 2008 as a private pharmaceutical
company, Evestra, Inc., focused on the development of new and improved treatments for women's health problems and hormone-dependent
cancers. For more information about the company's efforts, visit www.Evestra.com.
Cancer Model Development
Researchers at SFBR have developed a South American opossum,
the Monodelphis domestica, as a unique cancer model with exciting
potential.
Initially, the animal was shown to be a natural model of
malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Research
established that brief exposure of young Monodelphis
opossums to UV light causes moles in 5 to 10 percent of adult
animals, and 40 percent of these moles develop into melanoma.
This finding provides scientific evidence supporting the concept
that melanoma in adult humans may be the result of exposures
to UV light as children. The animal will provide a means for
testing new therapeutic methods for treating this skin cancer,
as well as new strategies to prevent it.
Most
recently, in 2003, SFBR scientists published their success
in transplanting human cancer cells and tumors in the Monodelphis,
marking the first time that human cancers have been able to
grow and metastasize in another animal with an active immune
system. This development opens the door for a host of promising
research opportunities, including the ability to investigate
ways to harness a person's own immune system to kill
cancer cells, as well as how the immune system and various
chemotherapies work together in this same effort.
Heart Disease
