Tulane Cancer Center

Committed to Excellence in Cancer Research, Education and Patient Care.

E-Update

Welcome Radiation Oncologist

Mini Elnaggar, M.D.

 

The Tulane Cancer Center is proud to introduce the newest addition to our Radiation Oncology team, Mini Elnaggar, M.D.

Dr. Elnaggar received her M.D. from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans in 2002.  Following graduation from medical school, she completed a one-year internship in the Department of Community & Family Medicine at Tulane University Health Sciences Center, July 2002—June 2003.

Her Radiation Oncology Residency was completed at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, July 2003-November 2007, and she joined the faculty at Tulane Cancer Center earlier this month.

Please help us welcome Dr. Elnaggar to the Tulane Cancer Center team.

Mini Elnaggar, M.D.

Assistant Professor

Tulane Cancer Center

Radiation Oncology

Volume 1, Issue 1, February 1, 2008

Steven M. Hill, Ph.D.

Professor & Chair, Department of Structural & Cellular Biology

Tulane Cancer Center Program Member

Introducing the

Roy S. Weiner, M.D.,

Cancer Education Fund

 

At a recent reception honoring Roy S. Weiner, M.D., founding director of the Tulane Cancer Center (TCC) and new associate dean for clinical research and training at Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Alvin Jones, chair of the TCC’s Community Advisory Board, announced the formation of the Roy S. Weiner M.D., Cancer Education Fund.  In addition to honoring Dr. Weiner’s lifetime of commitment to cancer research, the fund will support the education and early career development of scholars interested in clinical cancer research.

“Clinical research is how we learn to treat and prevent cancer,” said Dr. Weiner. “It is a process through which discoveries made in laboratories are translated into the clinical setting where they directly help patients.  It brings us closer to finding new treatment options and ultimately a cure.”

The Roy S. Weiner, M.D., Cancer Education Fund is designed to attract intelligent young scientists to careers in clinical research, thus insuring that the momentum of our discovery remains robust and that our children and grandchildren may see a day when death and suffering from cancer is a thing of the past.

If you would like to make a donation to the Roy S. Weiner, M.D., Cancer Education Fund, contact Keadren Green, senior center administrator for the Tulane Cancer Center, at 504-988-6064 or kgreen2@tulane.edu.

Alan Miller, PhD, MD, associate senior vice president for health sciences (left), and Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University (right), recently joined in honoring Roy Weiner, M.D., (center) for his many years of service to the Tulane Cancer Center.

 

Golfing for a Cause: 

5th Annual New Orleans Public Belt Railroad

Golf Tournament

 

On Monday, April 7, 2008, the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB) will host its Fifth Annual Benefit Golf Tournament in support of the cancer research programs of the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium, Tulane Cancer Center’s partnership with LSU Health Sciences Center and Xavier University of New Orleans. Last year's tournament raised $50,000 for the cancer research programs of the LCRC, bringing the four-year total for this event to $150,000.

The tournament will be held at Chateau Estates Golf & Country Club in Kenner, Louisiana. The format will be a four-golfer scramble with a shotgun start. All golfers will enjoy an afternoon that begins with brunch, followed by golf and ending with a steak dinner and awards ceremony at the Clubhouse. There will be door prizes and ditty bags presented to each player.

Event organizers are registering golfers and soliciting donations of items which can be used as door prizes or awards.  They are also seeking corporate and hole sponsors, who will be acknowledged through signage at the event.  A portion of their donation is tax-deductible.

 

For more information on the golf tournament, call Melanie Cross at 504-988-6592 or visit www.lcrc.info.

Faculty Focus: Shedding New Light on Cancer Risk

To avoid cancer, don’t smoke, don’t sunbathe, and don’t work the night shift?

When the World Health Organization added night shift work to its list of probable carcinogens last month, Steven Hill, Ph.D., chair of Tulane’s Structural and Cellular Biology Department, wasn’t surprised.  His laboratory has explored the connection between cancer and exposure to light since the early 1980s.  More specifically, he examines the anti-tumor activities of the hormone melatonin, which is produced in response to darkness in the pineal gland.  While a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. David Blask at the University of Arizona in the early 1980s, Dr. Hill was the first to demonstrate that melatonin inhibits the growth of human breast cancer cells.  He arrived at Tulane in 1989 and was one of only a handful of investigators in the world exploring the “fringe science” of melatonin and cancer.  “We were definitely swimming upstream back then,” said Hill.  Nevertheless, he received his first NIH grant in 1990 and has enjoyed continuous NIH funding since.  “Melatonin production is photoperiodic,” said Hill. “It is produced in a diurnal/circadian rhythm stimulated by the onset of darkness and suppressed in response to light.”  Before the widespread availability of electricity, most people worked during the daylight hours and rested at night, staying closer to the natural photoperiod and producing melatonin on a regular photoperiodic basis.  However, with the availability of artificial lighting, most of us now experience extended days, being exposed to light for 14 to 18 hours a day.  These artificial photo-environments repress our normal production of melatonin.  Numerous studies, including those conducted by Dr. Hill and his collaborators, have shown that when melatonin production is shut down, tumor development and growth is greatly enhanced.  “Even brief exposure to light during the normal dark/sleep cycle can completely block melatonin production,” said Hill, “denying the body the benefits of melatonin’s anti-tumor properties.”  The first epidemiologic studies on the effects of night shift work on cancer risk were based on the foundational studies performed by Drs. Hill and Blask and a few other early pioneers in the field of melatonin and cancer.  “Not surprisingly, the data show that women who work at night for an extended period of time have a significantly increased risk for breast cancer,” said Hill.  Similar studies have found increased risk for female night shift workers in endometrial cancer and for men in prostate cancer as well.  The problem is that night shift workers don’t generally achieve total reversal of their sleep patterns during their time on a given shift.  Because their families follow a more normal wake/sleep cycle, shift workers typically revert to a more normal social schedule on their days off.  As a result, their circadian rhythms are never allowed to entrain to their shift work, and their melatonin production is diminished, leaving them at higher risk for some cancers.

 

Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano

Sisters Fight Breast Cancer

 

Every year, more than 200,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer.  If one of those women is your sister, there is something you can do to help fight back – join the Sister Study.

 

The Sister Study is a nationwide observational effort being conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.  Its goal is to learn how environment and genes affect one’s chances of getting breast cancer.  Women between the ages of 35 and 74 whose sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer, but who have not had breast cancer themselves, can enroll.

 

Sisters of women who have had breast cancer have about twice the risk of developing breast cancer themselves.  Because genes, experiences and environmental exposures will be more common in sisters, researchers are hoping the study will point to links between these and higher risk for breast cancer.

 

 “We know absolutely that genes influence the risk of developing breast cancer, but most women who develop the disease don’t have one of the known breast cancer gene mutations,” said Timothy Pearman, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and director of Tulane Cancer Center’s Patricia Trost Friedler Cancer Counseling Center.  “What we know a lot less about is how the environment affects the risk of developing breast cancer, and that’s one of the areas this study is exploring.”

 

“A scientific understanding of how our environment impacts cancer risk will lead to better health for future generations,” said Maureen Lichtveld, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the Environmental Health Sciences Department at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, which began offering graduate students a degree program in environmental oncology last fall.

 

Researchers hope to enroll 50,000 women from all backgrounds, occupations, races and ethnicities into the Sister Study.  So far, 47,000 from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico have enrolled, but only 52 are from the New Orleans area, and the deadline for signing up is quickly approaching.

 

“New Orleans is being targeted now not only because we haven’t enrolled as many participants as other major cities,” said Pearman, “but also because there is currently an under-representation of women of color in the Sister Study.  It is important that African-American, Latina, Asian-American and Native-American women, as well as women over 55 participate so the results will benefit everyone.”

 

Joining is simple.  Participants answer a series of questionnaires about their life history, health, habits, experiences, jobs, hobbies and environmental exposures.  Then a registered health technician comes to their home to collect small samples of blood, urine, toenails and house dust.  After that, the Sister Study team checks in just once a year for the next ten years to learn about changes in the participant’s health or environment.  All information is kept private and confidential.

 

To enroll or to find out more about the Sister Study, call 1-877-4SISTER (1-877-474-7837) or visit www.sisterstudy.org or www.estudiodehermanas.org.

 

“Watching your sister fight breast cancer can give you a sense of helplessness,” said Pearman.  “But joining the Sister Study is a powerful way to do something that will make a difference so that future generations of daughters, granddaughters, sisters, nieces and friends don’t have to experience this disease.”

 

 

 

In This Issue…

 

Meet New

Radiation Oncologist,

Mini Elnaggar, M.D.

 

Shedding New Light on Cancer Risk

 

Introducing the

Roy S. Weiner, M.D., Cancer Education Fund

 

Sisters Fight Breast Cancer

 

New Orleans Public Belt Railroad 5th Annual Golf Classic