James N. Ingle, MD

2012-2013 BCRF Project:
Endocrine therapy is a crucial component of treatment for most women with breast cancer. Dr. Ingle’s BCRF-supported research is directed at improving its value through better understanding of estrogen receptor beta and its variants and determining their possible use as markers of response to endocrine therapy and as novel targets for drug development.

Dr. Ingle’s team has finalized their development of a monoclonal antibody that recognizes the full length ERΒ as well as its four variants and utilized it to study different collections of patient samples. Importantly, they have found that ERΒ and its variants are expressed in a large (over one-third) proportion of patients and have preliminary data that ERΒ expression may be associated with outcome in women treated with tamoxifen. These preliminary studies suggest that ERΒ alters the response of breast cancer cells to tamoxifen. Also, in triple negative breast cancer, Dr. Ingle’s team has found that about one-quarter exhibit ERΒ expression, which indicates the potential for new approaches to therapy in these patients.

Mid-year Progress: Following research to develop an antibody that recognizes estrogen receptor beta (ERΒ), Dr. Ingle's team has continued to study multiple collections of patient samples from the Mayo Clinic. They are in the process of confirming their preliminary data that ERΒ is present in triple negative breast cancers, which may offer the potential for utilization of endocrine therapy in such patients. In addition, breast cancer cell lines have been developed that offer the opportunity to study ERΒ and its variants and their impact on the effectiveness of endocrine agents such as tamoxifen and endoxifen. This research has the potential to benefit many women with breast cancer.

Bio:
James N. Ingle, MD is Professor of Oncology and Foust Professor in Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He is the leader of breast cancer research in the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center serving as Program Co-Leader of the Women's Cancer Program with responsibility for breast cancer. Dr. Ingle is the Director of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence. He was chair of the Breast Committee of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group for 22 years (1977-1999). His primary interests are pharmacogenomics and translational research involving endocrine therapy of breast cancer and the biology of endocrine sensitivity. He has 308 peer-reviewed publications. He has served on numerous national and international bodies such as the NIH (1990, Conference Vice-Chair)) and St. Gallen (2003-2011) Consensus Conference Panels on early breast cancer, serving as Co-Chair of the 2009 St. Gallen Conference. He recently completed his service on the Breast Cancer Steering Committee of the National Cancer Institute Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials.