Awardees & Updates – 2015

Recipient Dr. Anees Chagpar, MD, MSc, MPH, MBA of Yale University School of Medicine will study a promising surgical technique for predicting occult multifocal breast cancer in order to prevent breast cancer recurrence. This is further investigating an initial study by Dr. Chagpar that was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating reduced breast cancer recurrence through use of a surgical technique of cutting out more tissue around a cancer tumor slightly beyond clean margins. This method cut the rate of positive margins and re-excisions of cancer tumors in half. FWW’s award is enabling a follow-up pilot study to examine tissue from the previous study’s patients for expression of cell adhesion glycoproteins as a predictor for occult, or undetected, cancer. This will provide preliminary data to evaluate these markers ability to predict which breast cancer patients are at risk for recurrence and for whom this surgical technique is most effective.

Dr. Anees Chagpar is an Associate Professor of Surgery, Breast Surgical Oncology at Yale School of Medicine, Assistant Director of Global Oncology at the Breast Center and Program Director of the Interdisciplinary Breast Fellowship.

Recipient Dr. Kara Goldman, MD, of New York University School of Medicine will study a possible pharmacologic intervention for protecting ovary function in women undergoing chemotherapy. This study titled “Inhibiting the P13K/AKT/mTOR Pathway to Preserve Ovarian Function” is further investigating initial research showing promise of ovarian protective mTOR inhibitors when exposed to a common chemotherapy drug in female mice. FWW’s award will expand Dr. Goldman’s testing to mating studies exposing mice models to chemotherapy drugs and mTOR inhibitors to see if it leads to improved fertility; and to see if mTOR inhibitors long-term use in healthy mice could safely prolong reproduction by slowing ovarian aging. Chemotherapy is toxic to the ovaries and causes infertility in young women.

Dr. Kara Goldman is an Assistant Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University School of Medicine.

The results of this study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and has received medical attention from over 120 outlets nationally and internationally.
http://nyulangone.org/press-releases/available-drug-may-protect-ovaries-fertility-from-damage-by-chemotherapies