Despite detection tests being developed for many cancers, there is no single test to identify cancer in general. We have developed such an assay. In this modified patented Comet assay, we investigated peripheral lymphocytes of 208 individuals: 20 melanoma, 34 colon cancer, 4 lung cancer patients 18 suspect melanoma, 28 polyposis, 10 COPD patients and 94 healthy volunteers. The natural logarithm of the Olive tail moment was plotted for exposure to UVA through different agar depths for each of the above groups and analysed using a repeated measures regression model. Response patterns for cancer patients formed a plateau after treating with UVA where intensity varied with different agar depths. In comparison, response patterns for healthy individuals returned towards control values and for pre/suspected cancers, were intermediate with less of a plateau. All cancers tested exhibited comparable responses. Analyses of Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, of mean log Olive tail moments, for all cancers plus pre/suspected-cancer versus controls gave a value for the area under the curve of 0.87; for cancer versus pre/suspected-cancer plus controls the value was 0.89; and for cancer alone versus controls alone (excluding pre/suspected-cancer), the value was 0.93. By varying the threshold for test positivity, its sensitivity or specificity can approach 100% whilst maintaining acceptable complementary measures. Evidence presented indicates that this modified assay shows promise as both a stand-alone test and as a possible adjunct to other investigative procedures, as part of detection programmes for a range of cancers. This test has been repeated with 900 individuals and responses remain equally predictive.

Dr. Lam is a medicinal chemistry and drug discovery consultant. He currently collaborates with Blumberg scientists in terms of drug discovery and jointly supervises Blumberg chemistry postdocs and visiting scientists.

Dr. Lam has 30 years of extensive experience in innovation in structure-based drug design, ADME, focused libraries, molecular recognition and nucleic acid therapeutics to deliver biopharma clinical candidates with novel profiles. He is responsible for the discovery of a total of eight clinical candidates. At Bristol Myers Squibb, Dr. Lam was the group leader/co-inventor responsible for the discovery of  Eliquis®/Apixaban, a novel Factor Xa anticoagulant recently launched on the market. Eliquis® is projected by analysts to be a transformational medicine with “block-buster” sales potential. Eliquis® was chosen as the “Best New Medicine of 2012” by Med Ad News. He and his team were awarded 2015 American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry Award for the discovery of Eliquis®. Dr. Lam is also the inventor of the novel cyclic urea class of HIV protease inhibitors that resulted in Mozenavir/DMP450. In Phase II clinical trial, Mozenavir was shown to be as efficacious as Merck’s Crixivan, but without the lipodystrophy side effect of Crixivan.

In recent years, he has been involved with antivirals (HBV capsid, surface antigen and cccDNA inhibitors, Dengue Fever inhibitors, HIV-DCSIGN blockers), antithrombotics (FXIa and FXa inhibitors as anticoagulants; P2Y1 and PAR4  antagonists as antiplatelet agents), PCSK9 antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapeutics, prodrugs and carbohydrates.

In the organic chemistry area, he is internationally known as the co-discoverer of the powerful copper-promoted Chan-Lam Coupling Reaction, a complementary reaction to the Nobel-prize winning Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Reaction. Dr. Lam has authored 98 papers/reviews/book chapters, invented 36 patents/patent applications and presented 110 invited seminars worldwide.

Sean Lam has a PhD and Masters in Industrial and Systems Engineering, Operations and Business Analytics from the National University of Singapore.  He is currently the Senior Data Science Manager of the Sing Health Services Research Centre (HSRC), overseeing a team of data scientists and analytics professionals for the enhancement of patient care and outcomes through health services research. Sean is also an Assistant Professor at the Signature Program in Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS. He has more than 20 international publications, and won numerous awards from local and international research symposiums.

Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STATs) comprise an important class of transcription factors that have been implicated in a wide variety of essential cellular functions related to proliferation, survival, and angiogenesis. Among various STAT members, STAT3 is frequently overexpressed in tumor cells as well as tissue samples, and regulates the expression of numerous oncogenic genes controlling the growth and metastasis of tumor cells. I will briefly discuss the importance of STAT3 as a potential target for prostate cancer therapy and also provide novel insights into various classes of existing pharmacological inhibitors of this transcription factor that can be potentially developed as anti-cancer drugs.

Role of TIPE Family of Proteins In the Development of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Cancers of oral cavity is a major health concern worldwide with highest incidence in India. Unfortunately, in India, almost 2/3 of the oral cancer cases are diagnosed only in the advanced stage of the disease making it difficult to treat and decreasing the chances of survival. Therefore, it is essential to develop novel biomarkers for the better management of this deadly disease. In the current study, a novel tumor necrosis factor alpha induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8 or TIPE) protein family was examined for its therapeutic and prognostic potential against oral cancer. The protein family comprises of four proteins namely, TNFAIP8 (TIPE), TNFAIP8L1 (TIPE1), TNFAIP8L2 (TIPE2) and TNFAIP8L3 (TIPE3). Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that expression of TIPE, TIPE2 and TIPE3 were upregulated and levels of TIPE1 were downregulated in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissues compared to the normal tissues. In addition, treatment of oral cancer cells with tobacco and related carcinogens resulted in a significant upregulation of TIPE, TIPE2 and TIPE3 and downregulation of TIPE1 protein. Moreover, knockout of TIPE proteins was found to modulate the cancer hallmarks associated with oral cancer such as cancer cell survival, proliferation, colony formation and migration. Further, while TIPE, TIPE1 and TIPE2 proteins exhibited their activity through regulation of Akt/mTOR signaling cascade, TIPE3 acted through an Akt-independent mTOR/STAT3 pathway. Taken together, our results suggest that the TIPE proteins can be used as drug targets for the treatment of oral cancer.