2005 Public Lecture Series
Genes and Cancer: It's the Damage That Counts
Every cell in the human body has a full complement of genes, whose intricate interactions are necessary for the proper function of the cell and to control its growth. Every time a cell growth control gene is damaged, the cell acquires a little advantage over its neighbors, until finally it displaces them and forms a tumor. Thus, cancer is a disease of damaged genes, the damage acquired and accumulated over a lifetime. Tools to detect these genes, measure their expression and interaction are now being developed to improve not only the early detection of cancer, but also to help patients and doctors make decisions about the best treatment. Since each cancer and each patient are different, exploiting these differences diagnostically is expected to dramatically improve the prognosis for the patient and eventually help to displace cancer from its dubious distinction of being the number one cause of death.
Related links:
American Cancer
Society
National
Cancer Institute
Understanding Cancer (search
on "The Genetics of Cancer")
Dr. Schneider is the head of the diagnostic oncology laboratory at the Wadsworth Center and director of the oncology section of New York State's Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program. He is interested in understanding how cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy, with special emphasis on the role that drug transport pumps play in this process. He recently has shown that one such pump, called the Breast Cancer Resistance Protein, causes a dramatic reduction of the intracellular accumulation of a widely used chemotherapeutic drug, thereby reducing its efficacy. His secondary interests are identifying new biomarkers to improve the early detection of cancers, and use of new diagnostic tests to improve the diagnosis and management of cancer. Dr. Schneider received his doctorate from the University of Bern in Switzerland. He then pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of Auckland, the Johns Hopkins University, and at the National Cancer Institute, before joining the Wadsworth Center.