The American Thyroid Association (ATA) announced the five recipients of its 2011 research grants, each of whom will receive up to $25,000 annually for up to two years. Three of the five recipients were awarded special ATA ThyCa grants for research projects that focus on thyroid cancer. These grants are funded by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors, Inc. (ThyCa).
The 2011 ThyCa grant recipients are Naifa Busaidy, M.D., Assistant Professor, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston), Carmelo Nucera, M.D., Ph.D., Instructor/Junior Faculty, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA), and Joanna Klubo-Gwiezdzinsk, Ph.D., Endocrine Research Fellow, Washington Hospital Center/Georgetown University.
Dr. Busaidy, who received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX) in 1997, is the recipient of a ThyCa grant to study “A PI3K based phosphoproteome signature to predict prognosis and response to therapy in BRAF mutant papillary thyroid carcinoma.” While most patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) respond well to conventional therapy (surgery and radioactive iodine), 15%-20% will suffer recurrent PTC that is resistant to radioactive iodine or metastatic disease. Dr. Busaidy proposes to determine whether activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway in PTC tumors carrying a BRAF mutation—a pathway that has been implicated in aggressive thyroid cancers—is predictive of clinical outcomes and response to treatment. Bio
Dr. Nucera completed his medical and doctoral degrees and a residency in Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the University of Messina, Italy. His research will focus on “Targeting BRAFV600E with an orally available selective inhibitor in novel in vitro and in vivo preclinical models of human papillary thyroid cancer.” A large percentage of patients with radioactive iodine-resistant PTC carry a genetic mutation called BRAFV600E, resulting in decreased expression of the genes involved in iodide transport and metabolism. Dr. Nucera will assess the effects of LX4032, an oral drug that selectively inhibits BRAFV600E kinase, on PTC-derived cells in culture and on PTC tumor aggressiveness in mouse models. Bio
Dr. Klubo-Gwiezdzinska obtained her degrees from Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. She received a ThyCa grant to study “The role of the translocator protein (TSPO) in the thyroid cancer response to treatment.” Her project will focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying thyroid cancer response to radioiodine therapy and the ability to predict which tumors are more likely to be resistant to conventional treatment. Dr. Klubo-Gwiezdzinska will explore whether expression of the mitochondrial membrane translocator protein (TSPO) correlates with tumor response to radiation in vitro and whether TSPO expression can affect thyroid cancer cell response to radiation in vivo. Bio
The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international individual membership organization with over 1,400 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 88th anniversary, ATA delivers its mission through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded monthly journals, THYROID, Clinical Thyroidology and Clinical Thyroidology for Patients; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease. More information about ATA is found at www.thyroid.org.
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