MESOTHELIOMA
The National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) awarded a five-year $ 2.6 million grant to a team of UH Cancer Center researchers led by Michele Carbone , MD , PhD , and Haining Yang , MD , PhD , to study the role of the BAP1 gene in human cancer development and cell metabolism .
“ This grant adds to our two already funded NIH grants and to one grant from the Department of Defense confirming the leadership of the Hawaiʻi team as the top federally funded research team in the U . S . to conduct research on mesothelioma , a cancer developed frequently in those exposed to asbestos ,” said Carbone .
Carbone discovered the role of genetics in mesothelioma while studying a cancer epidemic in remote villages in Turkey . Carbone , Yang and collaborators continued studying genetics in mesothelioma by conducting molecular genetic studies of U . S . families with high incidence rates of cancer and discovered a condition they named “ BAP1 cancer syndrome ”.
Individuals with BAP1 cancer syndrome inherit a BAP1 gene mutation , leading to at least one and often several cancers in their lifetime . The BAP1 mutation greatly increases an individual ’ s susceptibility to environmental carcinogens such as asbestos , ultraviolet light and ionizing radiations , and thus increases the risk of the individual from developing mesothelioma , melanoma and other cancers .
Carbone and Yang were also awarded a $ 2 million grant over a three-year period from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to study the influence of genetics on an individual ’ s susceptibility to environmental toxins and carcinogens . The study is in collaboration with Joe Grzymski , PhD , of the Desert Research Institute in Reno , Nevada .
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