Posted January 7, 2016
Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., Dana-Faber Cancer Institute;
Rugang Zhang, Ph.D., Wistar Institute;
Dipanjan Chowdhury, Ph.D., Dana-Faber Cancer Institute

The OCRP offered the Ovarian Cancer Academy Collaborative Award in FY14 to create an opportunity for Early-Career Investigator (ECI) award recipients to form meaningful and productive collaborative efforts both within the Ovarian Cancer Academy (OCA) and in the ovarian cancer research community. The award stipulated that the proposed collaboration be led by an Initiating PI from the FY09 or FY12 Ovarian Cancer Academy and a team consisting of Partnering PIs, which could be other ECIs or an independent investigator not affiliated with the OCA. The research project must be an offshoot or idea that developed from a previously funded Ovarian Cancer Academy Early-Career Investigator (OCA-ECI) Award to either the Initiating PI or Partnering PI.

A team led by Dr. Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute was awarded the FY14 Ovarian Cancer Academy Collaborative Award for their project, "Therapeutic Strategies against Cyclin E1-Amplified Ovarian Cancers." The other members of the team include fellow OCA-ECI member Dr. Rugang Zhang, from the Wistar Institute, and Dr. Dipanjan Chowdhury, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The OCA is honored to have Dr. Chowdhury serving as an affiliate to enhance the networking group. Collectively, their projects aim to develop novel strategies against Cyclin E1 (CCNE1), which is amplified in ovarian cancer. Based on preliminary studies, Dr. Konstantinopoulos aims to determine whether HSP90-inhibitors are effective against CCNE-1 amplified ovarian tumors. Dr. Zhang is determining whether inhibiting FOXM1 and RB interaction is an effective approach for targeting CCNE1-amplified ovarian tumors. Dr. Chowdhury is determining whether miR-1255b, miR-148b, and miR-193b may be effective against CCNE1-amplified ovarian tumors in combination with platinum and PARP inhibitors.

If successful, these studies will provide novel therapeutic strategies to treat patients with CCNE1-amplified ovarian cancer tumors, who suffer from a high risk of failure to standard platinum-based chemotherapy.

Links:

Public and Technical Abstracts: Therapeutic Strategies against Cyclin E1-Amplified Ovarian Cancers

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