Sao Jiralerspong, MD, PhD

2007-2008 BCRF Project:
American Society of Clinical Oncology 2007 Young Investigator Award
(The Hirschhorn Award, in honor of Susan B. Hirschhorn and in memory of her mother, Ellen S. Hirschhorn)

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process observed during embryonic development in which cells lose their adhesiveness and gain the ability to migrate as part of tissue remodeling. Tumor cells appear to reactivate this developmental program to increase cell motility and thereby facilitate invasion and metastasis. Dr. Jiralerspong's research project focuses on defining the roles of the transcription factor Snail and the regulators of its stability in potentiating the EMT and metastasis in breast cancer. It involves the study of these proteins in cancer cell lines and tumor samples, as well as the detailed biochemical characterization of their functioning at the molecular level.

This work may define a new subset of patients at risk for local or metastatic relapse, and thus at risk of decreased survival. If so, such patients would be candidates for novel therapies to prevent or treat such relapse, and this work may also give insight into developing such therapies. Via this multidisciplinary approach, the researchers hope to have an impact on mortality in metastatic breast cancer, which currently claims the lives of 41,000 American women each year.

Mid-Year Progress Report:
The stability of Snail is controlled by other proteins, including LOXL2 and GSK-3beta. Dr. Jiralerspong is studying this group of proteins in breast cancer cell lines and tumor tissue samples from breast cancer patients. This will help define the functioning of these proteins, as well as their potential clinical importance, in breast cancer. In addition, he is studying the detailed interactions of these proteins using biochemistry and biophysics. All of this data will be crucial for the development of inhibitors of LOXL2 and the Snail pathway, which could be used to prevent or treat breast cancer metastases.

Bio:
I earned my M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine in 2001. I completed my Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Rice University in the same year. There, under the guidance of Ronald Parry, I studied the biosynthesis of coronafacic acid (CFA), a novel polyketide produced by the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. This gave me a good foundation for applying chemistry to the study of biological systems.

I then went on to study Internal Medicine at Boston University, completing Residency in 2004. Afterwards, I spent a year conducting research at Harvard University, in the lab of Greg Verdine. I examined how DNA repair enzymes function to discriminate normal from damaged DNA. This work resulted in the first x-ray crystal structure of a DNA glycosylase in complex with an intrahelical lesioned base.

I am currently a Medical Oncology Fellow at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. I am working in the labs of Mien-Chie Hung and Richard Brennan. My interests lie in using biochemistry, cell biology, and structural biology to study clinically relevant cancer proteins; and thereby have an impact on cancer morbidity and mortality.

I was recently honored with the receipt of an ASCO-Breast Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigator Award, in honor of Susan B. Hirschhorn and in memory of her mother, Ellen S. Hirschhorn; as well as an AACR-Amgen Fellowship in Clinical/Translational Research.