Titles and Affiliations
Professor of Radiation Oncology
Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs
Director, Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium
Member, BCRF Scientific Advisory Board
Research area
Defining the underlying differences in radiation sensitivity between invasive lobular and invasive ductal breast cancer to inform tailored treatment strategies.
Impact
Invasive lobular cancers (ILC) are not rare in that they account for approximately 15 percent of all new breast cancer diagnoses. They are the second most common histological type of breast cancer, second only to invasive ductal cancers. ILCs are distinct from invasive ductal cancers both pathologically and clinically and yet treatment approaches are generally the same. While research suggests ILCs may be more radiosensitive than invasive ductal cancers, the factors involved remain unknown. Dr. Pierce is seeking to uncover the inherent biological differences between the two breast cancer types that may explain why one is more radiosensitive than the other. She hopes that by gaining a better understanding of these differences better strategies for treating each could be developed.
Progress Thus Far
In the last year, Dr. Pierce tested the radiation sensitivity between ILC and invasive ductal cancers using well characterized cell lines specifically looking at radiation-associated effects on cellular proliferation. Her team found decreased proliferation for the ILC cells after radiation compared to the ductal cells, supporting their initial hypothesis that ILCs are more sensitive to radiation. They began to study differences in clonogenic survival which measures a single cell’s ability to proliferate after exposure to radiation. Their initial findings demonstrated a more pronounced loss of growth in lobular cancers compared to ductal cancers.
What’s next
In the next year, Dr. Pierce will continue to examine how the two types of breast cancer differ. Since radiation causes DNA damage to cells, her team will focus on the differences in the ability of ILC and invasive ductal cancer cells to repair DNA damage. Dr. Pierce and her colleagues will expand her studies to include other cell lines as well as analyze how metabolic processes differ between the two types following radiation. These studies can potentially help clinicians personalize radiation therapy for patients with ILC and spare those with invasive ductal cancer that may not respond from having this therapy.
Read more about Dr. Pierce’s work as part of BCRF’s Health Equity Initiative here.
Biography
Dr. Pierce completed residency in Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania and was a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She joined the Department of Radiation Oncology at Michigan in 1992, where she is currently Professor of Radiation Oncology and Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs.
She has published more than 170 papers and book chapters on aspects of radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of breast cancer, and her work has been funded by the NCI, Department of Defense Funds for Breast Cancer Research, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Komen for the Cure, BCBS of Michigan and private industry.
Her research focuses on the use of RT in the treatment of breast cancer, with emphasis upon contemporary RT treatment planning techniques, the use of RT in the presence of a breast cancer susceptibility gene, and pre-clinical and clinical use of radiosensitizing agents.
