David H. Gorski, MD, PhD

In the 11 months since the project began, Dr. Gorski and his collaborators have achieved: 1) Construction of a DNA vector containing the human GRM1 gene, which is presently being introduced into breast cancer cells to determine if it transforms them into malignant cells, and 2) Verification that blockade of the protein that the GRM1 gene makes (mGluR1) with the glutamate blocking drug Riluzole inhibits the growth of some breast cancer cell lines in cell culture and inhibits angiogenesis (new blood vessel formation, a capability of tumor cells that allows them to hijack the body’s blood vessels to provide oxygen and nutrients to feed their growth).

Going forward, Dr. Gorski's immediate plan is to test the ability of Riluzole, a glutamate blocking drug, to inhibit tumor growth in laboratory models of breast cancer using human breast cancer cell lines that both do and do not express GRM1 in order to determine whether (1) Riluzole inhibits their growth as predicted and (2) inhibition of tumor growth observed correlates with the presence or absence of mGluR1.

By fall 2008, Dr. Gorski anticipates beginning a clinical trial using Riluzole in breast cancer patients to determine whether this drug turns off the same cell signaling pathways in human breast cancer cells as it does in melanoma.

Bio:
David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, FACS is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and is presently based at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. He graduated with a BS in Chemistry from the University of Michigan and then went on to attend medical school at the University of Michigan. Following graduation, he pursued a residency in general surgery at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. While there, between his second and third years of residency, he pursued a PhD in Cellular Physiology at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at CWRU, where he studied the transcriptional regulation in vascular smooth muscle cells during restenosis and atherosclerosis.

After residency, Dr. Gorski undertook a research fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of Chicago, where he studied the interaction between radiation therapy and anti-angiogenic therapy in laboratory tumor models. At the completion of his fellowship, he moved to CINJ, where he remained for eight and a half years. In March 2008, he accepted a position in the Breast Cancer Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, where he presently combines a practice in breast cancer surgery with research into his two areas of interest, the transcriptional regulation of endothelial cell phenotype during tumor angiogenesis and the role of glutamate signaling in breast cancer pathogenesis and angiogenesis.