Gad Rennert, MD, PhD

2009-2010 BCRF Project:
The clinical behavior of breast cancer differs between affected women due to differences in their demographic characteristics (such as age at diagnosis and ethnic group), in the exposures that contributed to the development of cancer (such as reproductive patterns and obesity), in biological/genetic characteristics of the woman and the tumor and in the response to treatment. Dr. Rennert's project is aimed at identifying patterns of breast cancer behavior in patients with different demographic, pathological and molecular/genetic patterns. Some of the genetic events are inherited, some are acquired and some are evident only in the tumor.

The researchers have a reason to believe that women with different patterns will also have different survival patterns and different probability of developing other tumors, recurrence of tumors or metastases as well as respond differently to various treatments. They have thus far recruited more than 3600 women (towards a goal of 5000) with breast cancer into the study and have collected demographic and risk factor data from all of them. The current effort is to carry out an extensive molecular analysis in the blood of each participating woman and to evaluate the clinical records of each patient. When enough women with enough diversity are collected, they will be able to compare clinical patterns between various sub-groups. The results of this effort will allow better follow-up, potentially point at better treatment options and better prediction of survival.

Over the coming year, the researchers will study the medical records of the participants for medical events of interest, such as recurrence of disease or appearance of metastases and ompare the rate of these events between women with different inherited or acquired biological patterns derived from blood or tissue samples which are being collected.

Mid-Year Progress Report:
The researchers have thus far recruited more than 4000 women with breast cancer into the study and have collected demographic and risk factor data, as well as blood samples, from all of them. The current effort is to carry out an extensive molecular analysis in the blood of each participating woman and to evaluate the clinical records and histological reports of each patient. More than 100,000 genetic tests have already been performed in the study participants. When enough women with enough diversity are collected, they will be able to compare clinical patterns between various sub-groups. The results of this effort will allow better follow-up, potentially point at better treatment options and better prediction of survival.

Bio:
Dr. Rennert is the Director of the CHS National Cancer Control Center in Israel and of the National Breast and Colorectal Cancer Detection Programs of Israel. He is also the Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine at Carmel Medical Center and the School of Medicine of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.

Dr. Rennert's research is mainly focused on population-based molecular epidemiology studies of gene-environment interactions in the etiology of cancer, mainly of breast, colon, lung and gynecological cancers. His research group takes special interest in the unique genetic make-up of the Israeli population and its influence on the risk of cancer, on the development of means of cancer prevention and on the natural history of the disease, including the diagnostic process and response to treatment.

Dr. Rennert received his MD degree from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Medical School and his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health in Chapel Hill.