By
Ayse Guner
Arizona Daily Wildcat
About 75 projects underway to investigate how different things relate to cancer causes, treatments
UA cancer biology graduate students and their professors are researching how treatment products affect cancer cells and the causes of the disease.
The progress of about 75 projects was discussed at an Arizona Cancer Center forum Friday. This was the eighth annual forum, organized to present the research information.
Some of this year's research includes how smoking, alcohol, beta-carotene, fiber and vitamin E are linked to cancer causes or treatments.
Michele Taylor, a cancer biology graduate student, said she has been working on an anti-inflammatory drug -Sulindac- for the last year-and-a-half.
"We looked at two genes unregulated by colon cancer and are studying how a chemo-preventive drug inhibits the gene," Taylor said.
Sulindac is being used by cancer patients and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Taylor said.
Brandon Jeffy, a cancer biology graduate, has been researching environmental toxins and breast cancer development for two years.
"We think it is important because only 10 percent of the cancer is hereditary, 90 percent is sporadic - occurs without any known reason," Jeffy said. "Once we understand how this is occurring, we can find the place to stop it."
Claudio Brochini, a biochemistry graduate student, tests beta-carotene supplements and oxidation. Beta-carotene is found in vegetables and fruits.
"We try to find an oxidation product of beta-carotene which might have activity against cancer," Brochini said.
Brochini said although diets high in beta-carotene are associated with lower risks of cancer, beta-carotene supplements do not protect against cancer in humans because of their oxidation possibility.
A cancer biology graduate student Tom Sroka, who was looking at the posters that described the research projects, said the presentation was overwhelming.
"But it is a great opportunity to see what is going on as a graduate student to reach out and get new people to collaborate with and possibly improve our own project," he added.
Laurie Young, director of communications and outreach for the cancer center, said the faculty and students get together to provide an opportunity to learn more on the research conducted by the center.
"They provide an opportunity to learn more and come up with a new strategy," she said.
Young said the center continuously receives funds to research cancer. The research budget is about $30 million, she said.
"Cancer death rate showed a decrease, which is a positive attribution to important drugs and better diagnosis," she added.
