Mayo Clinic Cancer Center Rochester, Minnesota
Professor of Oncology Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Identifying genetic markers that can help select the optimal endocrine therapy for individual patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
While endocrine therapy has proven effective in many patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers (affecting approximately 1 million per year globally), some do not respond as well or experience such intolerable side effects that they suspend therapy. Drs. Ingle and Wang are studying the mechanisms by which a patient’s individual genetic makeup can affect tolerance and response to endocrine therapy.
The team has made substantial progress in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying individual response to endocrine therapy such as tamoxifen, fulvestrant, and aromatase inhibitors (AIs). They have expanded their focus beyond the estrogen receptor (ER) to the androgen receptor, given the important roles of both receptors in (ER)-positive breast cancer biology and therapies.
The team is extending its approaches to include state of the art techniques to identify genes and their functions associated with disease progression and effectiveness of therapies, such as AIs. They will build on the biomarkers they have already identified to further understand the mechanism of AI-resistance in (ER)-positive breast cancer.
James N. Ingle, MD has served in multiple leadership positions within the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (MCCC): founding Director of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer SPORE in 2005, the first chair of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) in 1978, chair of the NCCTG Breast Committee for 22 years beginning in 1977, chair of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Clinical Trials Committee from for 27 years beginning in 1982, Associate Director for Clinical Research in the MCCC, co-leader of the Women’s Cancer Program in the MCCC, and Associate Director for cancer-related activities for a K30 Clinical Research Training Program Grant. He also served as Director of the SPORE Career Enhancement Program and as Director of the Developmental Research Program.
His primary interests are pharmacogenomics and translational research involving endocrine therapy of breast cancer, and the biology of endocrine sensitivity. His clinical and translational research has impacted clinical practice. He has served on numerous national and international bodies such as the NIH (1990, Conference Vice-Chair) and St. Gallen (2003-2013) Consensus Conference Panels on early breast cancer (Co-Chair of the 2009 St. Gallen Conference), and the NCI Breast Cancer Steering Committee.
1994
The Delta Air Lines Award
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