A Marshall University researcher has been awarded a
one-year, $60,000 grant from the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Foundation.
The
grant to Dr. Travis Salisbury, an assistant professor in the Department
of Pharmacology, Physiology and Toxicology at the university's Joan C.
Edwards School of Medicine, will help
further his work to better understand the connections between obesity
and cancer.
According
to Salisbury, epidemiological reports have shown that obesity increases
human risk for several types of cancers, but scientists are not really
sure why. His lab is exploring
one possibility.
"Our
data shows that adipocytes, or fat cells, secrete factors that stimulate
human breast cancer cells to grow rapidly," said Salisbury. "We have
discovered that blocking the activity
of a specific receptor—the aryl hydrocarbon receptor or AHR—in the
cancer cells reduces their capacity for growth in an adipocyte-rich
environment."
He said the study funded through the grant will focus on this link between adipocyte-supported cancer growth and the AHR.
"For
several decades, AHR has been studied for its roles in toxicology;
however, our recent work suggests that this receptor could be a new
therapeutic target for treating cancer in
the context of obesity," he said. "It is quite exciting to think that
our findings will provide not only a better understanding of the
relationship between obesity and increased cancer risk but may also
suggest future treatments for cancer."
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