D. Craig Allred, MD
Professor of Pathology, Director of Breast Pathology
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
2008-2009 BCRF Project:
Human invasive breast cancers (IBCs) are potentially lethal. They develop from pre-existing non-invasive breast cancers, referred to as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which are non-lethal. Understanding how breast cancers invade into the normal breast could lead to new strategies to prevent it, and success will almost certainly be based on a detailed understanding of the biological alterations responsible for invasion. Unfortunately, very little is known about these alterations.
Recent microarray experiments from the Allred laboratory comparing human DCIS and IBCs have identified a large number of genes that differ and he proposes that some of these differences may facilitate the development of IBC. A surprising number of these genes are present in supporting stromal cells located adjacent to tumor cells, and understanding how they contribute to IBC will be difficult without studying intact systems that include both types of cells.
The researchers have also recently developed strategies to grow human DCIS (including tumor and stromal cells) in the breast tissue of laboratory models, and these are promising new tools to study the progression of DCIS to IBC. The goal of these proposed studies is to genetically engineer some of the changes observed in the researchers' microarray studies into the tumor and stromal cells of they DCIS models to identify which genes are involved in the progression to IBC. Identifying the genes involved in tumor invasion is an essential first step towards developing new therapeutic strategies to prevent it.
Bio:
Dr. Allred is an internationally recognized expert in breast pathology and research. He has served in numerous advisory positions in government, industry, and publishing on matters of scientific policy, research, and clinical care relating to breast cancer. He has been a member of the organizing committee of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, one of the most influential scientific forums on breast diseases in the world, for over 10 years.
His research interests, supported by a variety of federal, industrial, and philanthropic grants, include: (1) the molecular basis for response and resistance to breast cancer therapy; (2) the identification of biomarkers which predict clinical outcome and response to therapy; and (3) the molecular alterations responsible for the development and progression of premalignant disease to breast cancer. Dr. Allred has authored over 180 book chapters, scientific articles, editorials, and reviews on many breast cancer-related issues.
