Susan E. Clare, MD, PhD

2009-2010 BCRF Project:
Co-Investigator: Anna Maria Storniolo, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine

As breast cancer treatments improve and we are able to control metastatic disease in the chest, abdomen and bone, metastasis to the brain is becoming a significant treatment challenge. Delivery of therapeutics to the brain is impeded by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In order to cross the BBB, Drs. Clare and Storniolo have placed anti-tumor therapy in cells of the immune system which are recruited by the tumor. Their initial therapeutic is a particle made of gold and glass that is 1/1000 the diameter of a human hair. These particles can also be coated with drugs, which can be released by shining light onto the particles.

Efforts to prevent and treat breast cancer are significantly impeded by a lack of knowledge of the normal mammary gland. Using normal breast tissue from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center, over the next year the researchers propose to develop a molecular encyclopedia of the breast. This will enable an understanding of how the breast changes molecularly over the course of a woman's life. They will publish the results on their website and thereby provide a resource for researchers world-wide.

Mid-Year Progress Report:
The researchers' first experiments have focused on the premenopausal breast. Even though data analysis is very preliminary, their results are unprecedented. For example, they have produced a quantitative estimate of the variability of gene expression in the premenopausal breast.

Bio:
Dr. Clare is Assistant Professor, Division of Breast Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine. She is also a Guest Scientist/Visiting Professor at the Universitäts-Frauenklinik, Tübingen, Germany. She received a BA (Biology), MS (Chemistry) and PhD (Chemistry) from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Clare is an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL. Following completion of an internship and residency in general surgery at Northwestern, Dr. Clare was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Patricia S. Steeg, PhD, Women's Cancers Section, Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Clare's current laboratory research interests include a) The utilization of nanovectors for the treatment of breast cancer, b) Progenitor cells and the development of the normal breast, and c) The effect of surgical extirpation of a primary breast cancer on the growth of micrometastatic disease present at the time of operation. Dr. Clare is an active member of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium. She is a member of the Clinical Advisory Board of the Cincinnati/Purdue/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Nanomedicine Development Center.

Dr. Clare and her colleagues, Anna Maria Storniolo, MD and Connie Rufenbarger, Consumer Representative, Catherine Peachey Fund, Inc., continue to develop the Susan G. Komen® for the Cure Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center; a biorepository of breast tissue and biospecimens from women without clinical evidence of breast cancer. The Bank can be accessed on the Web at: https://komentissuebank.iu.edu.