Harrington Regional Medical Center, Inc. at Amarillo

Research Update/Briefing

• Breast Cancer Vaccine Research •
• Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Triangle (CREET) •

Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Triangle (CREET)

Cooperative programs of research, extension, education, and teaching are conducted in broad areas of crop production, livestock feeding and management, natural resource management, environmental protection, and family and consumer sciences by scientists and engineers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) at Bushland and the Texas A&M University System, including West Texas A&M University's Agriculture Division at Canyon, the Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Amarillo, and the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, Amarillo. These scientists and engineers represent an array of disciplinary training, including animal science, food science, agricultural and environmental engineering, animal health, veterinary medicine and toxicology, soil and crop sciences, plant science, plant pathology, entomology, agricultural economics, agribusiness, and related disciplines.

The faculty, scientists, and administrators of these programs conduct and collaborate closely on research, teaching, extension, and public service programs for the discovery, testing, and dissemination of new information and improvement of productivity, sustainability, and quality of life for residents and communities in the agriculturally important Panhandle, neighboring states, and beyond.

Follow this link to the listing of faculty, scientists and administrators of CREET.

Breast Cancer Vaccine Research

Introduction
About the Research
About the Researchers

Introduction

In November of 1993, a joint research grant initiative involving Harrington Regional Medical Center, Inc. (HRMCI) and the VA Medical Center - Amarillo (VAMC) was filed with the Department Of The Army (DOA) to fund a research effort to develop a vaccine to combat breast cancer. In September 1994 the Department Of The Army awarded an $800,000 research grant to HRMCI and the VAMC principle researchers Stephen Wright, M.D. and Kenneth Dombrowski, Ph.D. This joint initiative includes along with HRMCI and the VAMC, collaborations with Pantex/DOE (Mason and Hanger / Silas Mason Co.), and Duke University; a unique collaboration between the federal government, a public foundation, private industry and academia.

About the Research

In cancer, many changes occur in cells. Under normal circumstances, the body's defense mechanisms are able to recognize and destroy the abnormal cell containing an altered protein before malignancies occur. Unfortunately, in some cases, abnormal cells escape destruction by the body's defenses. They proliferate and result in a cancer.

Those cell changes, however, are very advantageous for researchers in identifying cells which may be abnormal. Different tumor cell types show specific cell surface markers which are a target for the immune system.

Drs. Dombrowski and Wright are studying breast cancer-specific molecules to develop cancer-specific vaccines. These molecules will be used to stimulate the immune system to retard the growth of cancer cells. In this way, these molecules may serve as a potential vaccine for the prevention and treatment of cancer.

The molecule which is being focused on in this research is called mucin. Mucins are a major component of secretions (i.e., mucous). In cancer cells, this molecule is altered to the extent that it no longer appears normal to the body. The body, in turn, begins to mount an immune response. However, sometimes the immune response is not sufficient enough to counter the growth of cancer.

One way to combat this growth is to take the killer cells, white blood cells, or T-cells, out of the patient, stimulate them to expand, re-infuse them into the patient, and possibly, overwhelm the cancer.

The other method, which is the basis of this research project, is vaccination. By vaccinating, you are educating the body's immune system to recognize harmful elements such as bacteria, viruses, cancer, etc., and to kill or irradicate them before they grow to lethal proportions.

About the Researchers

The co-principle investigators on this grant are Stephen E. Wright, M.D. and Kenneth E. Dombrowski, Ph.D.

Dr. Wright received his BA degree in Chemistry from Hendrix College. He received his MD degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in 1967. He did his internship at the University of Cincinnati, was a Staff Associate in the Chemotherapy Branch at the National Cancer Institute and a Residency at Harvard Medical School. He has held several academic appointments at the University of Washington and the University of Utah. He is currently Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Amarillo and an Associate Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Dr. Wright also holds graduate faculty appointments at West Texas A&M University. His research interest is in developing vaccines.

Dr. Dombrowski received his BS in Chemistry from Rider College. He received his Ph.D. degree from Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1987 and did Post Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware. He jointed the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in July 1991 as a Research Chemist and was appointed Assistant Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. His research interests include the study of the structure-function relationships of proteins and enzymes and their roles in disease.