Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York
Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health Associate Director for Population Sciences, Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center Scientific Director of the Epidemiology and Clinical Research Informatics Shared Resource
Understanding the genetic and molecular signatures associated with a higher risk of developing invasive breast cancer.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the earliest stage of breast cancer sometimes referred to as “stage 0” breast cancer. Estimates of DCIS cases that advance to invasive breast cancer range from 20-50 percent. Currently, the standard of care for DCIS is to treat it like early-stage breast cancer, typically with the combination of surgery, radiation, and hormone therapy, depending on the specific case. Researchers have raised concerns about overtreating DCIS and have debated whether treatment benefits outweigh the impact on a patient’s quality of life. Current clinical criteria established for DCIS do not sufficiently predict a patient’s likelihood of developing invasive breast cancer.
Dr. Rohan and his team are designing a new study to identify biomarkers of increased risk of invasive breast cancer. His team will utilize a large group (over 8000) of racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse women who were diagnosed with DCIS over a nearly thirty-year period. Of particular interest are those patients who go on to develop invasive breast cancer after diagnosis. They are analyzing tissue samples from the group who developed invasive breast cancer using an ongoing follow-up approach to further analyze molecular changes in DCIS lesions and if any biological markers observed are associated with an increased risk of developing invasive disease. Specifically, they are extracting RNA and DNA from these tissue samples to conduct a global assessment of gene expression in DCIS tissue. Results gathered from this study have the potential to lead to better testing to identify patients who can safely follow an enhanced screening schedule and reserve aggressive treatment for those who are at the greatest risk of developing invasive breast cancer.
Thomas E. Rohan, MBBS, PhD, DHSc is the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, Associate Director for Population Sciences in the Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center (MECC), and Scientific Director of the Epidemiology and Clinical Research Informatics Shared Resource at MECC. He is a past member of the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Counselors, and he is on the editorial board of several journals. He is a cancer epidemiologist with extensive experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of studies examining the genetic, molecular, nutritional, and hormonal factors in a wide range of cancers, especially breast cancer. He has published widely on these topics and has co-edited books on cancer precursors and cervical cancer. Dr. Rohan has extensive experience conducting translational studies that involve multiple centers and investigators that require careful planning and coordination.
2005
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