Vered Stearns, MD

2009-2010 BCRF Project:
The Stearns team's overall goal is to utilize molecular changes in breast tissue or fluid to determine the women at the highest risk for a future breast cancer. In addition, they want to develop specific interventions that will reverse the molecular changes and may prevent breast cancer. Women who have had hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer may take an aromatase inhibitor, such as anastrozole (Arimidex), a drug that blocks the effects of estrogen in the body and decreases the risk of developing a new or recurrent breast cancer.

The researchers have completed a preliminary study to help determine which women are most likely to benefit from anastrozole. They suspect that anastrozole will be most effective in women whose blood levels of estrogen drop and whose normal breast tissues become less dense after 6-12 months of treatment. At the same time, they are evaluating the effects of a cholesterol-lowering drug called a "statin," a drug that has shown significant promise for preventing hormone negative breast cancer, on similar markers.

Finally, they are very interested in the effects of certain soy compounds alone or in combination with vitamin A or D on genes in breast tissue and plan several investigations in the laboratory and hope that a combination can be used on the future.

Mid-Year Progress Report:
The overall goal of Dr. Stearns's research is to conduct small studies to investigate the effects of agents that may prevent breast cancer on biomarkers of risk. Promising agents or combinations can be then tested in large trials. Using BCRF funds, she and her team have completed several clinical studies and laboratory testing of promising agents. In a phase II pilot study they enrolled 54 postmenopausal women receiving adjuvant anastrozole therapy to test changes in breast density and other biomarkers. Blood, mammograms, and breast biopsy specimens have been collected and analyses are complete.

They have reported their preliminary results in national meetings and are completing manuscript preparation. They have also completed accrual of 50 women to a study evaluating the role of a cholesterol-lowering medication designated "statin" (simvastatin) on markers of breast cancer risk, and an abstract has been submitted to ASCO. A third study evaluating whether there is a drug interaction between anastrozole and simvastatin has been completed and a manuscript will be submitted in the next month. The researchers' laboratory investigations have focused on natural compounds such as soy and vitamin A and D that they hope can directly reverse some of the genetic changes that are found in high risk breasts. These laboratory results will be used to design new clinical studies.

Bio:
Dr. Stearns completed a B.S. equivalent at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, in Israel in 1989. After relocating to the United States, she completed her medical school training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she received her M.D. in 1992. Dr. Stearns completed her Internal Medicine residency at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC in 1995. She subsequently completed a Medical Oncology Fellowship at Georgetown University and the Lombardi Cancer Center when she developed interest in translational breast cancer research. Dr. Stearns joined the faculty at the Lombardi Cancer Center at the Georgetown University in 1999, and at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2001. In 2002, she joined the faculty at the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research.

Dr. Stearns's long-term research goal is to improve upon current practices by individualizing therapies for breast cancer. While administering standard chemotherapy in the preoperative setting, she examines molecular markers and functional imaging that may assist in early determination of sensitivity or resistance to treatments. The long-term goal is to add novel agents to standard regimens using surrogate markers as endpoints. The work is supported by the prestigious Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award and by the NCI. Dr. Stearns has also examined surrogate markers that may predict response to treatments that may prevent breast cancer such as tamoxifen and anastrozole.

Dr. Stearns is a member of a large group funded by the NIH/NIGMS to evaluate the role of genetic polymorphism in efficacy and safety to common breast cancer treatments such as tamoxifen. Finally, Dr. Stearns has spent considerable time focusing on improving the quality of life of women who have survived their breast cancer and suffer bothersome hot flashes. Further work focuses on a better understanding of mechanism of action of agents that control hot flashes.