treatment) and improving prevention strategies by reducing the toxic side effects of common cancerfighting medications. She and colleagues have found
A. Vania Apkarian, neuroscience
that when the breast cancer drug tamoxifen is applied as a gel to the breast rather than taken as a pill, it
writing at Kenyon College — they spend more time
does less harm to other parts of the body and avoids
together in their art- and book-filled home in
the risk of blood clots. Endoxifen, another form of
Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.
tamoxifen, is even more promising, says Khan, who plans to test an endoxifen gel in a year or so. “The National Cancer Institute has grown very interested in transdermal drugs for cancer prevention, so it’s really taking off,” she says. “Transdermal delivery will be a major advance in cancer prevention if it pans out.” Khan’s current research stems from a paper on breast pain that she and her husband published together
“We talk quite a lot about work because I can help with the design, recruitment, and analysis of the human trials he’s doing,” says Khan. “He’s very forward-thinking and uses social media and other formats I wouldn’t think of. I show him data and he’s good at statistics and gives me advice.” “My wife’s work has influenced me in many ways,” adds Apkarian.
in the 1990s. They modified a pain questionnaire
The beauty of science, he says, is that scientists can
for the paper and were subsequently contacted by
influence society at large. “My wife helps people every
a company developing a tamoxifen gel for breast
day, while my work is much more theoretical. But I
pain management. Khan thought the gel could
am doing the basic science with the optimistic
work for breast cancer prevention while causing
viewpoint that we will make the planet suffer less
fewer adverse side effects, and persuaded the
pain at some time. I don’t know if that will happen
company to sponsor a study, leading to her
in my lifetime, but I’d like to see that.” — Anne E. Stein
transdermal drug studies today. Now that Apkarian and Khan are empty nesters — their daughter lives and works for nongovernmental organizations in Armenia, while their son studies
Research | Winter 2017
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