OSU-IU cancer center receives $9 million in support

The National Cancer Institute granted IU and Ohio State University $9 million today to support the continuation of studying cancer genes and epegenetics, the sometimes-unnatural agents that mask the genes’ expression.

The OSU-IU Center for Cancer Systems Biology is co-administered by OSU School of Medicine cancer geneticist Timothy Huang and IU School of Medicine cancer biologist Kenneth Nephew. Huang and Nephew also lead the center’s project, “Interrogating Epigenetic Changes in Cancer Genomes,” which began in 2004 with about $8 million in NCI support. As part of the NCI’s Integrative Cancer Biology Program, OSU-IU center along with ten others received funding or continued funding this year.

“Our group uses integrated computational and experimental approaches to study epigenetic mechanisms that control signaling networks in prostate, breast, and ovarian cancers,” said Nephew in an IU press release. “During the initial funding period, we focused on epigenetic processes associated with neoplastic transformation of normal cells into cancer cells. We demonstrated that disruption of key networks contribute to the development of breast, prostate, and ovarian cancer, and we developed mathematical models based on our experimental data.”

In the release, Nephew said the OSU/IU-led team over the next five years will study epigenetic changes in prostrate, breast and ovarian cancer cells that cause resistance to hormonal therapy or traditional chemotherapy. A major objective of the team is to identify a panel of epigenetic biomarkers for predicting responsiveness to anti-hormone treatements and chemotherapies in cancer patients, he said.

“These centers represent a unique multidisciplinary union of outstanding scientists and clinicians who will work to unravel the complexities of cancer through the novel application of technology and mathematical modeling,” said Dan Gallahan, NCI Integrative Cancer Biology Program director, in an IU press release. “Their discoveries and models will be critical to our continued success in understanding and treating this disease.”

— Bailey Loosemore