Structural Approach to Cancer

This year, more than 60,000 adults in the United States will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, statistically, as few as 10 percent will survive five years after diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society.

Because pancreatic cancer is hidden deep within the body and often symptomless, it’s frequently diagnosed after the disease has progressed too far for surgical intervention or has spread throughout the body. Research indicates that earlier detection of pancreatic tumors could quadruple survival rates; however, no validated and reliable tests for early detection of pancreatic cancer currently exist. 

Now, Harvard Medical School researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have successfully created the first 3D organoid models of the pancreas from human stem cells.

Unlike previous platforms for studying pancreatic cancer, this first-of-its-kind organoid model includes both the acinar and ductal structures that play a critical role in the majority of pancreatic cancers.

Israeli study suggests method to reduce dangers of cancer-causing protein

Israeli scientists say they have made a discovery that could pave the way to neutralizing dangers posed by the cancer-causing protein BRD4.

When this protein becomes overactive due to a malfunction in the body, genes that cause various cancers become over-stimulated. But boosting the production of a particular enzyme in the body could well reduce the risk it poses, according to a new study by Prof. Dan Levy, a biologist at Ben Gurion University. For years scientists have hypothesized that the SETD6 regulates BRD4 activity, but there has been limited understanding of the relationship.

Now, after lab experiments on human cells that originate from breast cancer patients, Levy has published a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances giving the clearest explanation yet of how the enzyme impacts the protein.


 

Israeli AI solution beneficial to early detection of certain lung cancer, study finds

Research published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine indicates model from Medial EarlySign is able to detect non-small cell lung cancer with 40.3% sensitivity and 95% specificity.

Israeli biotech firm Medial EarlySign, which develops artificial intelligence (AI)-based clinical data solutions for early detection and prevention of high-burden diseases, announced this week the publication of new research impacting the early diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The peer-reviewed retrospective data study, "Machine Learning for Early Lung Cancer Identification Using Routine Clinical and Laboratory Data," was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Together with researchers from Kaiser Permanente Southern California, the Department of Health Systems Science from Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, and the Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada, study authors found that EarlySign's machine-learning model was more accurate for early diagnosis of NSCLC than either standard eligibility criteria for screening or the modified PLCOm2012, demonstrating the potential to help prevent lung cancer deaths through early detection.

Scientist Snapshot 
Avi-Hai Hovav

Avi-Hai Hovav, PhD
Associate Professor, Faculty of Dental Medicine
Hadassah Ein-Kerem Medical School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem 
Area of Focus: IMMUNOLOGY AND IMMUNOTHERAPY, A SHIFT IN EPITHELIAL ANTIGEN-PRESENTING CELLS DRIVES ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

Dr. Avi-Hai Hovav received his Bachelor of Science degree in Life Sciences from the Hebrew University in 1997 and continued there in the Department of Microbiology until 2004 when he received his PhD. Following that he conducted his postdoctoral research at Harvard University in Boston, MA, for three years.

Following his training he joined the faculty of Hebrew University in 2008 as an independent investigator focusing his early research on a key question for immunologists seeking to develop new vaccines; namely, how the immune system recognizes attacks on the body by such pathogens as bacteria and viruses. These early studies focused on a specific subpopulation of immune cells, dendritic cells, that are key in this process. This work let to the important discovery that different biological molecules used in the preparation of vaccines can have a significant effect on the ability of the vaccine to be recognized by the immune system and in that manner affect the outcome of vaccination. These findings were published in a series of research papers in prestigious scientific journals.

In 2013 Dr. Hovav joined the Faculty of Dental Medicine where his studies were amongst the first to characterize a distinct subset of immune cells in the mouth. This effort is of great potential importance because the mouth serves as an entry point for all sorts of potentially dangerous disease-causing agents. In the proposed work, Dr. Hovav will continue these studies seeking to understand how disease-causing microbes are recognized by the immune system in the mouth and how changes that occur during that process can lead to decreased immune protection and promote carcinogenesis with the mouth.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is frequently diagnosed at late stage, which is detrimental to the patients due to its high mortality and morbidity rates. Early detection is therefore a major challenge in efforts to fight OSCC. Studying such carcinogen-induced early shift in oral epithelial APCs should increase our understanding regarding OSCC and will facilitate the elucidation of novel predictive strategies for recognizing premalignancy and its transformation into oral carcinoma.

Dr. Hovav is an active teacher in the Dental Faculty and has received many awards for excellence in this work, including in 2017 the Michael Milken Prize for Excellence in Teaching. He is a member of several important University Committees including the Research Committee, the Infrastructure Committee, and the DMD Thesis Committee. He is a member of the Immunology Peer Review Committee for the Israel Science Foundation and has served as an external reviewer for many international journals including the Journal of Clinical Investigation and the Journal of Immunology. He is an author of more than 45 scientific publications in the research literature.

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