2006 Mentored Investigator Grant Recipient — Aliza Leiser, MD
Project Summary
The combination of paclitaxel and carboplatin is the most commonly utilized combination chemotherapy in the treatment of primary epithelial ovarian cancers. However, approximately 15 percent of patients do not respond to this combination and their disease will progress during or shortly after the completion of chemotherapy. The general dogma is that those who fail therapy are platinum resistant. Dr. Leiser has identified a molecule in ovarian cancer cells, called MyD88, that seems, however, to confer resistance to paclitaxel. In her project, she plans to study how MyD88 induces resistance to paclitaxel in animal models. Findings could lead to the use someday of alternative drugs for this subgroup of patients who are resistant to paclitaxel and have activated MyD88.
Bio
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