Researchers at 91ŃÇɫ’s Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry (CRMS), Mount Sinai Hospital and the University Health Network have identified protein biomarkers that may aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of endometrial cancer, which affects the lining of the uterus. The researchers hope that a partnership with the private sector will expedite clinical testing and eventually move their discovery from the research bench to patients’ bedsides.

Endometrial cancer is the most common form of cancer in the female reproductive tract. In 2009, 4,400 Canadian women were diagnosed with endometrial cancer, making it the fourth-most-common cancer among Canadian women after breast, lung and colorectal cancers.

Although 85 per cent of diagnosed women show a five-year survival rate from endometrial cancer, and the overall survival rate is 79 per cent, those numbers have remained static for the last 20 years. Currently, endometrial cancer is often detected when unusual uterine blood discharges prompt a diagnostic investigation. These discharges can sometimes be the first signal that cancer is present, yet they may appear after the cancer has already progressed to a more advanced stage. Hysterectomies, with or without lymph node dissections, are currently the primary treatment; patients may also receive adjuvant therapy (radiation or chemotherapy), depending on the disease’s type, stage and grade.

Enter protein biomarkers – biological substances associated with a particular disease that can ideally be detected in the blood to aid the disease’s diagnosis and/or prognosis.

“We have identified several proteins that are present in much higher concentrations in endometrial cancer cells compared to normal cells,” says Professor Michael Siu (right), director of the , 91ŃÇɫ’s associate vice-president research, science & technology, and professor in the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science & Engineering. “These differences in protein expression have been verified in the lab on a couple of hundred patient samples; early results for testing in blood are very encouraging. By working with the private sector, we hope to be able to expedite clinical testing of the panel of biomarkers and develop a diagnostic kit for endometrial cancer.”

Siu’s research team includes Dr. Terry Colgan, head of gynecological pathology and cytopathology at , and Alex Romaschin, formerly with the and now a scientist with the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital.

Over the last five years, the team has published eight papers on endometrial cancer biomarkers in prestigious international journals and a number of additional articles are in various editorial and reviewing stages. Siu’s team has attracted over $1.3 million in external research funding for this endometrial cancer research, as well as an additional $1.8 million in funding for biomarkers of other cancers.

Siracor, a private-sector company founded by biotechnology entrepreneur Joel Cheng, has licensed the intellectual properties of the endometrial cancer biomarkers. Siracor is 100 per cent Canadian-owned, but has a global view and reach. “Endometrial cancer affects women all over the world,” says Cheng. “By developing kits that will expedite the detection of the disease and at an earlier stage, Siracor hopes to be a part of the scientific solution that will lessen this cancer’s impact worldwide.”

91ŃÇɫ’s technology transfer service leads the patenting and licensing of the endometrial cancer biomarkers in collaboration with its counterparts at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University Health Network. It’s part of ongoing efforts to make sure research is not kept on the shelf.

“Technology transfer is a specialized service 91ŃÇÉ« offers to all researchers whose findings have commercial potential,” says Stan Shapson, 91ŃÇÉ«'s vice-president research & innovation. “Strong basic research discoveries can lead to important applications, as we hope will be the case in this instance by improving endometrial cancer detection and treatment options. Through careful collaboration with industry, 91ŃÇÉ« is using initiatives such as this to maximize the benefit of our research findings to patients and their families.”

By David Phipps, director, Research Services and Knowledge Exchange, and Elizabeth Monier-Williams, Research Communications Officer

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91ŃÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91ŃÇÉ« Professor K.W. Michael Siu has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the highest honour a Canadian scholar can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences.

This year’s new Fellows will be inducted at a ceremony to be held Nov. 28 in Gatineau, Que.

A specialist in mass spectrometry whose work is highly regarded by researchers around the world, Siu is also known for service to his field in a number of professional organizations, including president of the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry and chair of the Canadian National Proteomics Network Board of Directors.

Right: Professor K.W. Michael Siu

"We are tremendously proud that Professor Michael Siu is elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society," said Stan Shapson, 91ŃÇÉ« vice-president research & innovation. "Michael Siu is a pioneering scientist who has made significant contributions to advance research in chemistry, and especially in mass spectrometry, and has made great strides in establishing collaborations and partnerships regionally and internationally."

The citation for his election as a Fellow to the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences reads:

“Professor K.W. Michael Siu is one of Canada's foremost bioanalytical and biophysical chemists and an exceptional mass spectrometrist with an outstanding record of innovation and accomplishment. He has made most-significant contributions to understanding the structures, energetics, and ionization and gas-phase chemistries of protonated and metalated peptides as well as peptide radical ions, developing new mass spectrometry (MS) instrumentation in collaboration with Canadian industry, and developing innovative MS technologies and methodologies for proteomics, especially in the discovery, identification, verification and quantification of protein biomarkers for better diagnostics and prognostics of cancers.”

Siu is a Distinguished Research Professor (see YFile May 8, 2007) who did his PhD at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University and arrived at 91ŃÇÉ« in 1998 after a successful career at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) where he first developed some of the pioneering techniques that he uses to help other scientists in their investigations as well as his own. He is director of 91ŃÇÉ«'s , holds an Industrial Research Chair funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council and MDS Analytical Technologies (formerly Sciex), and is developing new instrumentation and methodologies in mass spectrometry in collaboration with the industrial partner.

He is also collaborating with researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael’s Hospital, University Health Network and the Hospital for Sick Children on discovering and verifying protein biomarkers for endometrial, head and neck, brain, and renal cancers. Siu also has extensive collaboration within and outside of 91ŃÇÉ« on proteomics and fundamental chemistry relevant to mass spectrometry.

Since 2005, Siu has also been 91ŃÇÉ«'s associate vice-president research, science & technology.

He is the recipient of numerous distinctions, including a New Pioneers Award (see YFile, Jan. 22, 2007), the Maxxam Award for distinguished contribution in the field of analytical chemistry (see YFile Aug. 2, 2006), the 2005 Lossing Award (see YFile Jan. 20, 2006) and the Gerhard Herzberg Award from the Canadian Society for Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy (see YFile, Sept. 13, 2004).

In an article first published in 91ŃÇÉ«U łľ˛ą˛µ˛ąłúľ±˛Ô±đ’s 2007 Special Research Edition, Siu said he was “in the right place at the right time” to ride the technological revolution in biomolecular analysis: electrospray ionization – a Nobel Prize-winning discovery that made it possible to analyze and measure proteins with hitherto unheard of sensitivity and accuracy. “The concept of moving proteins from the solution to the gas phase in order to weigh them accurately was completely revolutionary. This was entirely virgin territory,” Siu explained. He and his colleagues at NRC quickly modified an existing mass spectrometer and began exploring the new technology’s capabilities. As the technique opened up new possibilities, Siu’s work earned him recognition as an innovator and much sought-after collaborator.

Published in 91ŃÇÉ«'s e-newsletter YFile.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91ŃÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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