ANNUAL REVIEW master Final3a - St Vincent's University Hospital

St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group Limited - Annual Review 2007
Education & Research
Breast Cancer Research
Principal Investigator:
Professor Joe Duffy
Researchers:
Patricia McGowan, Dr Aisling Pierce, Dr Eadaoin McKiernan,
Dr Brid Ryan,
Dr Neil O’Brien (currently visiting scientist in the lab of Drs Denis Slamon, University of California at Los Angeles)
Collaborators (Local):
Professor John Crown, Mr Enda McDermott, Mr Denis Evoy,
Dr Liam Gallagher, Professor Steve Pennington, Professor F Martin (UCD),
Dr Norma O’Donovan (DCU)
Collaborators (International):
Drs Denis Slamon/Gottfried Konecny, University of California at Los Angeles;
Dr Stan Krajewski, Burnham Institute, La Jolla; Prof Fred Sweep, Nijmegen;
Prof Nils Brunner, Copenhagen, Prof Manfred Schmitt, Munich.
Research Focus
The overall aim of the Breast Cancer Research Group is to develop new molecular markers to aid the early
diagnosis of breast cancer, help with prognosis and predict likely response or resistance to specific therapies.
Patricia McGowan is working on TACE (ADAM17), a multidomain protein possessing both a protease and
an adhesion domain. Using both breast cancer cell lines and human tumors, Patricia has shown that TACE
is involved in the progression of breast cancer. TACE is thus a potential new target for the treatment of breast
cancer. During 2007, Patricia also carried out research on a new breast cancer biochip
Aisling Pierce is involved in using proteomics and glycomics for the early detection of breast cancer. She is
also investigating the potential role of the breast-specific gene, mammaglobin, in the formation of breast cancer.
Eadaoin McKiernan is attempting to identify new markers for predicting the metastatic potential of newly
diagnosed breast cancers. This work is being carried out as part of a HRB-funded Programme Grant
Recognition of Work
In 2007, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommended clinical use of uPA for determining
prognosis in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer. The first demonstration of the clinical value and
indeed much of the early work on this biomarker was carried out in the Education and Research by
researchers working under the supervision of Professor Duffy. These researchers included Pauline O’Grady,
David Reilly and Catherine Duggan
Higher Degrees/Fellowships
Patricia McGowan received her PhD in 2007 for her research on “ADAM17 in Breast Cancer”. During the
year, Brid Ryan began a Health Research Board/National Cancer Institute (USA) Fellowship in Preventative
Oncology. This Fellowship will allow Brid to work at the world famous National Cancer Institute in the US.
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