Edith A. Perez. PhD

Dr. Perez and her colleagues are leading several projects with support from BCRF: 1) They continue to evaluate proteins and gene markers that may help predict the likelihood of responsiveness to the anti-HER2 targeted drug, trastuzumab (Herceptin). 2) A study to evaluate the cardiac safety of the combination of chemotherapy and trastuzumab with the novel HER1/HER2 inhibitor, lapatinib, is now open to patient enrollment, with 11/109 patients enrolled to date. 3) The researchers have successfully overcome all the mechanistic, organizational and regulatory pre-requisites for generating a breast cancer tissue bank and expect to be storing tissues by the end of June 2007. Experiments in the lab have further substantiated the notion that p120 and E-cadherin expression regulate receptor tyrosine kinase signaling and have suggested the possibility that p120 and/or E-cadherin deficient cancer cells may exhibit both trastuzumab and anti-estrogen resistance.

This year, Dr. Perez and her Mayo Clinic colleagues plan to evaluate the long-term cardiac safety of trastuzumab, develop a study to determine whether the cardiac side effects of this agent may be prevented (or at least significantly diminished), and design new initiatives to optimize the understanding of patient outcomes related to HER2 and anti-HER2 therapy.

Mid-Year Progress Report:
Dr. Perez and her team have just published the long-term cardiac safety of trastuzumab as balanced by the significant positive impact on patient lives. Studies evaluating prognostic molecular markers include HER2, C-myc, e-cahedrin, and other proteins and genes. Dr. Perez also reports that collection of both primary and metastatic breast cancer tissue samples for the Breast Tumor Tissue Bank is well underway. Over 300 demographic, clinical and pathological variables, as well as detailed follow-up data are also collected for each tissue sample, as part of this effort. Significant progress in all these areas is being accomplished with the support of the BCRF.

Bio:
Edith Perez is a Professor of Medicine at Mayo Medical School, in Rochester, Minnesota. She is a member of the Mayo Clinic Women's Cancer Program Steering Committee and Director of the Cancer Clinical Study Unit at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and is Chair of the Breast Committee for the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). She also servers on the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Clinical Research Awards Committee as well as on the Scientific Program Committee, Cancer Communications Committee, and Cancer Education Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). In addition, Dr. Perez is Chair of the ASCO Health Care Disparities Task Force. She is also a member of the Clinic Trials Working Group and the Board of Scientific Advisors to the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Perez received her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. She served as a general internist in the Division of National Health Services Corps Region IX, Los Angeles, and as a fellow in Hematology/Oncology at Martinez Veterans' Administration Medical Center at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.

Dr. Perez has developed and is involved in a wide range of clinical trials exploring the use of new therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. She also has recently developed studies to evaluate the role of genetic markers in the development and aggressiveness of breast cancer. She has also authored more than 100 research articles in journals and books and is a frequent lecturer at numerous national and international meetings each year.

Dr. Perez is a recipient of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation Research Grant Award (1998-2005); the 2002 Horizon Achievement Award in Cancer Research presented by Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; and the North Florida Hispanic of the Year award in 2003, presented by Hispanics Achieving Community Excellence at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL. She has been a member of the Mayo Clinic's Institutional Review Board and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) - Ventral Institutional Review Board, and over the past 10 years has been actively involved in NCI- and National Institutes of Health-related activities. She is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians and an active member of ASCO, AACR and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and serves on the editorial boards of multiple journals.