Surinder Batra, Ph.D., has been awarded the 2001 College of Medicine
Joseph P. Gilmore Outstanding Investigator Award. The award highlights
the work of an outstanding researcher at UNMC.
Dr. Batra received the award for his latest research breakthrough that
may provide hope for detecting pancreatic cancer early. Because pancreatic
cancer is hard to detect, by the time the cancer is discovered, patients
usually have about six months to live.
Dr. Batra and his group have identified a blood molecule MUC4 mucin
that shows promise as being the first marker specific to pancreatic cancer.
Currently, there are no known markers (in the blood) specific to pancreatic
cancer, said Dr. Batra, UNMC associate professor in biochemistry and molecular
biology. Our trial showed that MUC4 is not only a marker for the cancer,
but it also could be a molecule that wed target in therapy.
Joseph Gilmore, Ph.D., was professor and chairman of the department
of physiology from 1970 to 1987. He was funded by the National Institutes
of Health for his entire career, supervised numerous graduate students
and post-doctoral fellows, and published more than 200 scientific papers.
The Joseph P. Gilmore Award was established by the department of physiology
and biophysics upon Dr.Gilmores retirement in 1987 to recognize outstanding
research contributions by a faculty member.
Dr. Batra has made important contributions to cancer research, said
Ira Fox, M.D., associate dean for research and development within the UNMC
College of Medicine, and he was selected for this award from a very competitive
field.
Dr. Batras research into the causes of pancreatic cancer began during
his more than eight-year tenure at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham,
NC. He came to UNMC in 1996, he said, because of its strong program in
pancreatic cancer, and the interaction that occurs between basic scientists
and clinicians.
His lab group, consisting of between 10 and 14 members at any one time,
is supported by various funding agencies, including the National Institutes
of Health, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Nebraska Research Initiative
program, the Nebraska Cancer and Smoking Disease Research Program, and
private foundations.
During the past 4½ years, Dr. Batra has written 31 published
works, including research papers, review articles and book chapters. Nearly
all of his efforts focus on pancreatic cancer, which accounts for 3 percent
of total cancer types and 5 percent of all cancer deaths. About 28,000
people are diagnosed and die every year from the disease. Nearly all of
them are diagnosed after the disease has metastasized, or spread, from
the pancreas.
People who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer usually dont have
long to live usually from two months up to a year, at the longest, Dr.
Batra said.
Dr. Batra is hopeful that identifying MUC4 will help change that. In
the preliminary study, completed two months ago, 105 patients with various
cancers and disease were studied. Only those with pancreatic cancer exhibited
expression of MUC4.
The next study, which will involve numerous medical centers, will investigate
many more patients and those people who are at high-risk for developing
pancreatic cancer, such relatives of victims.