Sunil Badve

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/6682

Sunil Badve's translational research efforts on efficient treatment of breast cancer have a two-pronged approach; developing novel targeted therapies on the one hand and identifying ineffective therapies on the other. His team is studying the individual biological components that culminate in cancer. Gaining a better understanding of these molecular mechanisms will enable identification of key "nodes" in cellular pathways, which can then be targeted by biological agents leading to better diagnosis and effective treatment of breast cancer.

Dr. Badve demonstrated that the FoxA1 protein plays a critical role in determining responses to anti-hormonal therapy IU patent, being licensed. His group has developed a gene signature useful for predicting brain metastasis (IU patent pending) and is currently, with (IU and non-IU) collaborators, trying to dissect the pathways associated with brain metastasis with the hope of preventing and treating this disease. He is also collaborating with IU and Purdue researchers to develop novel methods of detecting and treating breast cancer.

Dr. Badve's practical application of research into information that can be used by local clinicians in treating breast cancer is another example of how IUPUI's faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.

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Browsing Sunil Badve by Subject "aggressive breast cancer"

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    Tumor infiltrating leukocyte density is independent of tumor grade and molecular subtype in aggressive breast cancer of Western Kenya
    (BMC, 2017) Sawe, Rispah T.; Mining, Simeon K.; Ofulla, Ayub V.; Patel, Kirtika; Guyah, Bernard; Chumba, David; Prosperi, Jenifer R.; Kerper, Maggie; Shi, Zonggao; Sandoval-Cooper, Mayra; Taylor, Katherine; Badve, Sunil S.; Stack, M. Sharon; Littlepage, Laurie E.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background Tumors commonly are infiltrated by leukocytes, or tumor infiltrating leukocytes (TILs). It remains unclear, however, if the density and type of individual TILs has a direct or simply correlative role in promoting poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Breast cancer in Kenyan women is aggressive with presentation at a young age, with advanced grade (grade III), large tumor size (>2.0 cm), and poor prognosis. We previously observed that the tumors were predominantly estrogen receptor positive (ER+) but also included both a high percentage of triple negative tumors and also increased immune cell infiltration within the tumors. We used breast tumor tissues from each patient to make tissue microarrays that were then stained for leukocyte and myeloid markers including CD4, CD8, CD20, CD25, CD68, and CD163 using immunohistochemical techniques. The immune cell infiltration into the cancer tissue included increased numbers of macrophages (CD68+), helper T cells (CD4+), and CD25+ lymphocytes compared to benign tissue. Results This study characterized the grade, molecular subtypes, and proliferation index of these tumors and determined if TIL density was enriched across any of these factors. We analyzed 49 malignant patient tissue samples for this study. The patient population had a mean age of 51.9 years. The tumors analyzed were heterogeneous by grade: grade I (6%), grade II (47%), and grade III (39%). Most patients presented with large tumors (>2.0 cm) (69%). We classified the tumors into molecular subtypes based on clinical marker expression. Based on this analysis, the molecular subtype distribution was heterogeneous with luminal B (41%), basal/triple negative (TN) (37%), luminal A (14%) and HER2 (8%) breast cancer subtypes. While the basal/TN subtype had a much higher proliferative index (Ki-67+) than did the other molecular subtypes, we did not see a significant correlation between TIL density and either subtype or tumor grade. Therefore, TIL density is independent of molecular subtype and grade. Conclusion This study identified a Kenyan patient cohort that develops large, high-grade tumors primarily of the luminal B and basal molecular subtypes. After analyzing the TILs within these tumors, we found that immune cell infiltration of these tumors correlated with increased proliferation but not grade or molecular subtype. Future research is required to determine if the aberrant recruitment of TILs to tumors contributes to cancer progression and response to cancer treatments.