Contact:
Will SansomPhone: (210) 567-2579
E-mail:
sansom@uthscsa.edu The researcher whose life work has led to a novel, effective treatment for breast cancer told her story Nov. 7 during the fifth annual Presidential Distinguished Lecture in the Health Science Center auditorium.
Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president, welcomed 2006 invited lecturer Angela Brodie, M.D., of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center. William L. Henrich, M.D., M.A.C.P., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at the Health Science Center, introduced her. Dr. Henrich joined the Health Science Center from the University of Maryland and is familiar with Dr. Brodie’s work.
Dr. Brodie discussed compounds called selective aromatase inhibitors that inhibit the hormone estrogen. Her lab was the first to report this class of compounds as a possible new treatment for breast cancer.
Dr. Brodie described a number of studies that showed aromatose inhibitors, when compared with another widely used medication, tamoxifen, were more effective at stopping local recurrences of breast cancer and metastatic disease. Some trials were stopped early because the aromatase inhibitor under study proved to be so beneficial to the women treated with it.
Three U.S. Food & Drug Administration-approved aromatase inhibitors are available today. The first to be commercially available, 4-OHA, was developed by Ciba-Geigy, now Novartis. It debuted on the market in 1994.
In his concluding remarks, President Cigarroa cited the courage and perseverance it took to bring this discovery, aromatase inhibitors, from the laboratory to the care of women with breast cancer. During her talk, Dr. Brodie had mentioned that initial efforts to patent the aromatase inhibitors drew little interest, as did efforts to interest pharmaceutical companies in the new concept.
She said a presentation of the research at a conference in Rome in 1982 sparked interest by a British colleague, leading to a clinical trial at Royal Marsden Hospital in London that proved the effectiveness of the aromatase inhibitor concept in human patients.
“Dr. Brodie has described an incredible, courageous journey,” President Cigarroa said. Thanks to researchers such as Dr. Brodie, the medical community is close to reclassifying breast cancer from a fatal illness to more of a manageable, chronic disease, he said.
The Presidential Distinguished Lecturers have included: 2002, Dr. Judah Folkman; 2003, Dr. Thomas Starzl; 2004, Dr. Robert Langer; 2005, Dr. Denton Cooley; and 2006, Dr. Angela Brodie.
As he has in previous years, President Cigarroa said the goal of the annual event is to inspire Health Science Center students, one of whom will make a discovery like Dr. Brodie’s that could change the world and help alleviate human suffering. One day, that person, will return to stand on stage as the Presidential Distinguished Lecturer, he said.
