OU graduate student Jonathan Kane publishes in the Red Journal

Since the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine was established two and a half years ago, faculty at both institutions have begun working together on joint research projects. What will a successful OU-Beaumont collaboration look like? You can see an example in the December 2013 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology (the “Red Journal”). There, Biomedical Sciences: Biological Communication graduate student Jonathan Kane is the lead author on a paper titled Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Migration After Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy in a Murine Model (Volume 87, Pages 1162-1170). Kane’s OU mentor is Assistant Professor and CBR member Gerard Madlambayan, of the Department of Biological Sciences, and his primary Beaumont mentor is Dr. Brian Marples of the Department of Radiation Oncology at William Beaumont Health Systems. Also among the coauthors is Dr. George Wilson, Chief of Radiation Biology at Beaumont and Scientific Director of Beaumont’s BioBank. A summary of the paper is given below.

“Lewis lung carcinomas were established in C57BL/6 mice and treated with hypo-fractionated x-irradiation (2 15 Gy) to examine the role of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) in tumor regrowth. The migration levels of bone marrow-derived HSPCs corresponded with tumor regrowth rates after treatment. The HSPCs isolated from tumors maintained stem cell functionality in vivo and preferentially targeted areas of DNA damage in irradiated tumors.”

The research is performed on mice, but the goal is to improve the treatment of patients. The authors conclude that “this study demonstrates the importance of HSPCs in the response of tumors to radiation and highlights the need to address stem cell-mediated pathways in the future development of cancer therapies.”

This research was funded in part by an Oakland University-Beaumont Multidisciplinary Research Award. These awards are meant to catalyze OU-Beaumont collaborations, and based on this paper it looks like they are working. One hallmark of this study is the graduate student, who truly straddles the two institutions. He serves as a pioneer, showing how OU graduate students can thrive in this joint university-hospital environment.