UF researcher Steve Goodison, Ph.D., an associate professor in the department of surgery in the College of Medicine Jacksonville, recently received a $250,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen Foundation to study the biological mechanisms of how breast cancer spreads.
During the two-year translational research study, Goodison will use a comparative proteomic approach to identify factors required for tumor cells to spread. The main purpose of proteomics – or analysis of the protein profile in a cell or tissue – is to identify proteins that are specifically associated with disease.
“Proteomics also involves the definition and analysis of the many protein-protein interactions responsible for biological processes that are regulated by multiple proteins,” said Goodison. “Once we better understand the physiological role of these processes, we can better understand the pathological changes that breast cells and tissues undergo during cancer progression.”
Goodison proposes that there are definitive patterns of change in protein expression in tumor cells that are capable of metastatic spread. New techniques allow relatively large-scale screening of cell-surface proteins, which means now it’s feasible to compare the complete protein profile of cells with differing abilities to metastasize.
The new grant extends Goodison’s ongoing studies on breast cancer, funded by the National Institutes of Health, which aim to identify the genetic characteristics of metastatic breast tumors.
The molecular and cell biology aspects of the study will be conducted in Jacksonville, and the project will also involve collaborators at the University of Michigan and UF colleagues in Gainesville in the department of pathology and in the core facilities of the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research.