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 a premalignant lesion, 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 the risk of it progressing to invasive breast cancer outweighs the impact of treatment 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 conducting a study to identify biomarkers of increased risk of invasive breast cancer. His team is measuring gene expression patterns from a large group of over 8000 racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse women who were diagnosed with DCIS over a nearly thirty-year period. They are conducting genomic analyses of tissue samples from the group who developed invasive breast cancer to identify molecular changes in DCIS lesions and any biological markers that are associated with an increased risk of developing invasive disease.
In the next year, Dr. Rohan and his team will complete the gene expression profiling of DCIS tissue. The team will also use AI-based analytic strategies to evaluate breast tissue composition and cell growth and division patterns in tissue samples from those who developed DCIS and invasive breast cancer. Results from this study have the potential to help 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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