Biotechnology Center, which allowed her to collect necessary data to revise and resubmit her federal grant request. —Doug Boyd
Cliff Hollis
Cliff Hollis
the ecu report
Antibody offers hope for cancer
Yan-Hua Chen
NIH grant funds kidney research Funded by a $1.6 million grant, an East Carolina researcher is studying a protein that might hold a key to reducing high blood pressure and improving kidney function in people with kidney disease. Dr. Yan-Hua Chen, an associate professor of anatomy and cell biology at the Brody School of Medicine, has received the five-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the function of claudin-7, a protein that makes up part of the barrier that controls the flow of molecules between cells. Chen’s preliminary research has shown that claudin-7 interacts with an enzyme called WNK4 kinase and forms a pathway for chloride ions to enter the bloodstream. Interaction of claudin-7 with a mutated version of WNK-4 may lead to high blood pressure. Understanding the role of claudin-7 in these intercellular barriers and pathways could lead to medicines that could help people with high blood pressure as well as kidney disease, Chen said. It could also help people whose blood pressure is too low. “We need to find out the mechanism of this claudin-7 in the control of ionic balance in the body,” Chen said. “The next five years will be very exciting for us.” Chen began her research with grants last year from the ECU Division of Research and Graduate Studies and the N.C. 6
Pathologist Anne Kellogg has developed a monoclonal antibody that could play a vital role in treating the most common form of ovarian, breast and other cancers. She is working with two drug firms, ImmunoGen Inc. and sanofi-aventis, that have expertise in formulating antibodies into cancer therapies and taking them to clinical trials. Kellogg created the antibody, called DS6, that attaches to cancer cells, serving as a vehicle for delivering a potent cancerkilling agent developed by ImmunoGen. The antibody latches on to tumor cells and enables the whole compound—the antibody and the attached cell-killing agent—to enter the cancer cell. Once inside, the agent kills the tumor cell. “We can’t give such a potent agent on its own because it would be too toxic, but if we can link it to an antibody, it goes inside the tumor cell and is released inside the tumor cell, which is really an amazing feat,” Kellogg says. Monoclonal antibodies are manufactured
Anne Kellogg
proteins, produced from a single parent cell, that bind to a specific substance. One of the best-known monoclonal antibodies is trastuzumab, sold under the brand name Herceptin and used to treat breast cancer. Kellogg’s research is funded in part by ECU and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. “We feel we made a wise investment that will help advance the treatment of cancer,” said Peter