School receives cancer research grant

UT working on drug for triple negative breast cancer.

University of Toledo researchers were awarded nearly half a million dollars after making a scientific breakthrough in the development of a drug that could potentially cure triple negative breast cancer.

“Very recently our lab discovered certain molecules that could destroy not only triple negative breast cancer cells but also reduce triple negative tumors that are highly resistant to chemotherapy,” said Amit Tiwari, an assistant professor in UT’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Susan G. Komen, one of the nation’s largest breast cancer organizations, donated $449,248 to the UT researchers so they can continue researching treatments for triple negative breast cancer.

“We’re so excited to have a local researcher on the cusp of finding an impossible cure,” said Mary Westphal, executive director of Susan G. Komen Northwest Ohio. “We are thankful for those dedicated to helping us reduce breast cancer deaths through research.”

One in five women diagnosed with breast cancer will have triple negative breast cancer, Mr. Tiwari said, adding it is the most lethal form of breast cancer.

In 2015 there were 9,472 breast cancer cases reported in Ohio, according to the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tiwari spent the past 12 years researching the factors that lead to chemotherapy resistance. If a patient develops resistance to chemotherapy, he said, the tumor can spread throughout the body, drastically reducing a patient’s survival rate.

“What we saw in our lab is when we combined our drugs with chemotherapy it reversed the drug resistance of the chemotherapy and reduced the side-effects,” Tiwari said.

With the grant from Susan G. Komen, Tiwari and his team of researchers will be able to continue their research and get their drug closer to clinical trials.

Melissa Paskvan, a triple negative breast cancer survivor, said she’d been a staunch advocate for triple negative breast cancer awareness ever since her diagnosis almost a decade ago.

“I’m thrilled we’re doing this research in my own back yard,” she said.

“I’m hoping this may be the answer to finding out a way to keep the cancer from recurring.”