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MCI, Auburn Collaborate in Cancer Fight

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Posted on January 4, 2018

Marketing and Communications

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With testing set to begin 鈥渁ny day鈥� on a potential preventive drug targeting ovarian cancer, the project鈥檚 lead researcher said perseverance and timing helped forge a 鈥減erfect partnership鈥� that could foster future collaborations 鈥� and hopefully breakthroughs.

鈥淥ur collaboration with Auburn University has been critical in helping this all fall into place, and I really think there鈥檚 an opportunity to build on this new relationship for years to come,鈥� said Dr. Jennifer Scalici.

Scalici, a gynecologic oncologist with the University of South Alabama鈥檚 , leads the MCI team partnering with Auburn鈥檚 poultry science department to determine if a compound developed inside the Mobile center can successfully prevent ovarian cancer in hens.

鈥淚n our minds, this is the best model to study prevention agents and probably the most easily translatable to humans,鈥� Scalici said, noting hens are the only species outside of human females in which ovarian cancer develops naturally.

Specifically, the study is designed to determine if the compound being tested 鈥� MCI-030, developed by Dr. Gary Piazza, chief of MCI鈥檚 Drug Discovery Research Center 鈥� inhibits a particular enzyme Da Silva鈥檚 research shows is essential for ovarian tumor cell growth.

Scalici explained roughly 40 percent of all hens between the ages of 2 and 5 develop ovarian cancer, while the incidence rate in human females is less than 1 percent. Despite this statistically high occurrence rate in hens, the lion鈥檚 share of pre-clinical research being performed in the field focuses on mice as test subjects.

鈥淥varian cancer is not something mice develop spontaneously. You have to physically inject them with it, and that presents a problem when you鈥檙e working on prevention research.  If your test subjects are being manipulated, then your results are going to be less organic and less likely to translate to human clinical trials down the road,鈥� Scalici said.

Combine the MCI team鈥檚 theory, a compound developed in-house by Piazza, Auburn鈥檚 poultry science department and a $300,000 U.S. Department of Defense grant, and MCI Director Dr. Michael Finan said the result is a textbook example of the translational research the academic treatment and research facility was established to foster.

鈥淭ranslational research means moving an idea from bench to bedside, and this is a perfect example. If a drug is successfully developed that proves to be safe and effective in chickens, then we may be able to move on to human clinical trials,鈥� Finan said, noting success in this early stage research could reasonably lead to human trials within five years.

鈥淭ranslational research means moving an idea from bench to bedside, and this is a perfect example."

鈥淲e鈥檙e always looking for new ways to detect and treat cancer, but here we鈥檙e talking about a compound that potentially prevents cancer from developing in the first place, and with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration working to speed up their processes, we鈥檙e hopeful for a swift development timeline,鈥� he said.

Although the grant award was announced in September, Scalici said logistics have delayed the project鈥檚 launch. Because the hens are so much larger than traditional lab mice, production of MCI-030 in quantities large enough to treat the test pool had to be subcontracted to a Chinese firm and has just now been delivered.

Meanwhile, Scalici said her team has been attempting to work with Auburn on 鈥渟omething like this鈥� for several years, but the funding mechanisms were not in place.

鈥淚n 2014, we tried with a similar drug and couldn鈥檛 get funded. The DoD grant might be small, but the timing is perfect, and we鈥檙e confident it will translate into bigger projects 鈥� projects where we鈥檒l have enough data to start something big,鈥� she said.

Indeed, the two-year pilot award, which Scalici said follows a 鈥渉igh-risk, high-reward鈥� formula, is being funded by the DoD鈥檚 targeted ovarian research program.

鈥淚t鈥檚 only because of our access to Auburn鈥檚 poultry science facilities that any of this is moving forward right now. They have been absolutely vital,鈥� she said.

Indeed, Finan said the Auburn researchers will administer the compound to the hens in their feed and periodically draw blood for testing which will take place at MCI.

鈥淎ll of us have an interest in trying to move science forward, and when we can find ways to work together like this that are mutually beneficial, everybody wins,鈥� he said.

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