This mentored career award outlines a five-year training program for Dr. Ahuja's transition to scientific independence in the field of cancer biology. Dr. Ahuja proposes to expand her scientific skills and knowledge and it is expected that she would attain independent investigator status at the end of this award period. Dr. Ahuja will continue an established scientific mentorship with Dr. Baylin, an expert in epigenetics. She will also be mentored by Dr. Leach, an expert in pancreatic developmental biology and a fellow surgeon who will provide valuable clinical guidance. She has the full support of her Department to protect at least 75% of her time during the award period. Dr. Ahuja has laboratory and office space within Dr. Baylin's laboratory and is fully immersed in the research environment. The laboratory is located in the Cancer Research Buildings at Johns Hopkins and has access to many established scientists with an environment that favors collaboration and support of clinician scientists. The research plans focuses on understanding the role of DNA methylation in colorectal cancer metastases and recurrence and understand its applicability as translational markers. Epigenetic gene silencing involving aberrant DNA methylation of promoter-associated CpG islands functions as a central mechanism of inactivation of tumor-suppressor genes in colorectal cancer. We hypothesize that methylation profiles hold enormous potential as prognostic markers for recurrence in colorectal cancer and methylation profiles may allow molecular staging of colorectal cancer. In order to test these hypotheses, the following aims are proposed: 1) To utilize methylation profiles to predict recurrence in early-stage colon cancers. 2) To establish the methylation changes that underlie the process of metastasis in colorectal cancers in order to identify novel markers for predicting recurrence and metastases 3) To develop a molecular staging system for colorectal cancer. The research will build on exciting preliminary results demonstrating the utility of methylation profiles to predict recurrence. In addition, a systematic understanding of late events in colorectal carcinogenesis will be performed. Relevance: Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide and in the United States. The long-term goal of this proposal is to utilize knowledge of the newly emerging field, termed epigenetics, to establish novel markers for predicting patients at high-risk for colorectal cancer recurrence and to define novel cancer treatments.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23CA127141-05
Application #
8304362
Study Section
Subcommittee G - Education (NCI)
Program Officer
Lim, Susan E
Project Start
2008-08-01
Project End
2014-07-31
Budget Start
2012-08-01
Budget End
2014-07-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$140,940
Indirect Cost
$10,440
Name
Johns Hopkins University
Department
Surgery
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
001910777
City
Baltimore
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
21218
Fu, Tao; Liu, Yanliang; Li, Kai et al. (2016) Tumors with unmethylated MLH1 and the CpG island methylator phenotype are associated with a poor prognosis in stage II colorectal cancer patients. Oncotarget 7:86480-86489
Ahuja, Nita; Sharma, Anup R; Baylin, Stephen B (2016) Epigenetic Therapeutics: A New Weapon in the War Against Cancer. Annu Rev Med 67:73-89
Abdelfatah, Eihab; Kerner, Zachary; Nanda, Nainika et al. (2016) Epigenetic therapy in gastrointestinal cancer: the right combination. Therap Adv Gastroenterol 9:560-79
Fu, Tao; Pappou, Emmanouil P; Guzzetta, Angela A et al. (2016) IGFBP-3 Gene Methylation in Primary Tumor Predicts Recurrence of Stage II Colorectal Cancers. Ann Surg 263:337-44
Ahuja, Nita; Easwaran, Hariharan; Baylin, Stephen B (2014) Harnessing the potential of epigenetic therapy to target solid tumors. J Clin Invest 124:56-63
Sun, Lifeng; Guzzetta, Angela A; Fu, Tao et al. (2014) CpG island methylator phenotype and its association with malignancy in sporadic duodenal adenomas. Epigenetics 9:738-46
Juo, Y Y; Johnston, F M; Zhang, D Y et al. (2014) Prognostic value of CpG island methylator phenotype among colorectal cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Oncol 25:2314-27
Guzzetta, Angela A; Pisanic Ii, Thomas R; Sharma, Prateek et al. (2014) The promise of methylation on beads for cancer detection and treatment. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 14:845-52
Li, Huili; Chiappinelli, Katherine B; Guzzetta, Angela A et al. (2014) Immune regulation by low doses of the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-azacitidine in common human epithelial cancers. Oncotarget 5:587-98
Yi, Joo Mi; Guzzetta, Angela A; Bailey, Vasudev J et al. (2013) Novel methylation biomarker panel for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. Clin Cancer Res 19:6544-6555

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