Targeting a vulnerability in triple-negative breast cancer

TheoryLab

The collaboration between Claudia Benavente, PhD, and Michael Emanuele, PhD, is a perfect example of how cancer researchers with overlapping interests but very different expertise can come together to find a new path forward in cancer research. They found each other through the American Cancer Society’s online community for current and former cancer research grantees. The Benavente Lab had previously identified a new protein with exciting therapeutic potential that is critical for tumor metastasis. Independently, the Emanuele Lab found that this protein is tightly controlled by a cellular machinery that functions to eliminate proteins within the cell. Together, they are collaborating on an ACS-funded research project to determine how this protein is made, how it functions, and how it’s eliminated, with the goal of creating novel target therapeutics for patients with triple-negative breast cancer. 2:55 – Claudia Benavente, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Michael Emanuele, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the UNC Cancer Center. 4:04 – What is triple-negative breast cancer? What does ‘triple negative’ mean? 7:48 – On a protein called UHRF1 that has therapeutic potential in other cancers with similarities to triple-negative breast cancer. What does UHRF1 do in normal cells? 10:50 – Why is it important in cancer cells? 13:45 – How Dr. Emanuele and Dr. Benavente struck up a collaboration through TheoryLab, the American Cancer Society’s online community for current and former research grantees 17:35 – “…maybe we could take advantage of the cell’s innate ability to get rid of UHRF1 and sort of trick it into shutting it off itself—not just shut it off, but get rid of it altogether…” 21:47 – How their complementary skill sets and expertise will help them figure out the best approach to target how UHRF1 is made, how it functions, and how it’s eliminated, with the goal of creating novel target therapeutics for patients with triple-negative breast cancer 25:41 – Steps they will take to determine the potential of therapeutically regulating UHRF1 removal in triple-negative breast cancer 28:54 – What most excites them about this project 32:46 – Keys to a productive scientific collaboration 34:56 – On the impact of ACS funding on their research 37:33 – A message they’d like to share with cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers