Research Team:  Backman, Barrett, Bergan, Bulun, Khan, Pelling, Roy, Rodriguez, Yang

Chemoprevention is a very promising strategy which involves pharmacologic intervention at very early stages in the disease process or in high-risk individuals to reduce the development of clinically overt cancer. Members of this group focus on breast (Bulun, Khan), prostate (Bergan), skin (Pelling), ovarian (Rodriguez), and colorectal cancer (Backman, Barrett, Roy, Yang). The principal agents of interest include COX-2 inhibitors and anti-hormonal drugs such as selective estrogen response modulators (SERMs) or tamoxifen (breast), genistein/soy (breast and prostate), inositol and aspirin (GI), methyl-selenium (prostate), oltipraz (lung), photodynamic therapy (head and neck), progestins (ovarian) and apigenin (skin). Ongoing studies cover the spectrum from basic science, to directed preclinical cell culture and animal models, to human clinical trials. Clinical trials range from small phase I (e.g., Oltipraz in Smokers (Bergan)), to large phase III (e.g., Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) (Khan) studies. Of particular note is the Phase I and II Chemoprevention NCI Contract directed by Dr. Bergan. This contract provides a venue for investigators to develop and investigate chemoprevention agents in the context of small, translational-based clinical trials.

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