Dr. Ann Chambers

Forty per cent of Canadians are likely to develop cancer during their lifetime, and about half of these cancers will be fatal. Most cancer deaths are caused by the spread of cancer – a process known as metastasis - to new organs rather than by the primary tumour.

Dr. Ann Chambers, professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario and senior scientist at the London Regional Cancer Centre (LRCC), is researching new ways of looking at how cancer spreads and raising new ideas about how to prevent it.

"There are treatment opportunities at several steps during the metastatic process," she says. "New ways need to be found to attack these cells or to prevent their re-awakening."

Her research focuses on dormant cancer cells not destroyed by standard chemotherapy; the role of the protein osteopontin (OPN) in metastasis; and the idea that timing of cancer surgery during specific phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle may affect chances of survival. The overall aim of her research is to learn how cancer cells spread so new anti-metastasis therapies can be developed.

This involves the study of how OPN contributes to the growth and progression of many kinds of tumours. Studies have shown OPN can function to promote malignancy of cells in culture and Chambers is studying how it affects tumor growth and progression.

Clinical studies conducted by Chambers have shown women with metastatic breast cancer have blood OPN levels higher than normal and OPN tissue levels are higher in lung, esophageal and breast tumours than in adjacent normal tissue. "These experimental and clinical studies will clarify the role of OPN functionally in cancer and its potential role as a prognostic indicator in breast and other cancers," she says.

In collaboration with Drs. Alan Groom and Ian MacDonald of the Medical Biophysics Department at Western, Chambers developed intravital videomicroscopy (IVVM), a novel procedure to observe the steps in metastasis. Using IVVM has helped clarify the stages in this process and its molecular mechanisms.

This discovery means a large number of solitary cancer cells may remain dormant in tissues for long periods of time with the potential to re-grow to form metastases. This finding led Chambers to further studies on mechanisms of tumour dormancy. In addition, it has helped her to develop novel ways to measure the growth of new blood vessels required for tumour growth known as tumour angiogenesis. This may be a promising approach for therapeutic intervention to prevent the spread of cancer, either by inhibiting tumor cell growth directly or by inhibiting angiogenesis.

Chambers was honoured with a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Oncology in 2003, supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust. She is also the Director of The Pamela Greenaway-Kohlmeier Translational Breast Cancer Unit created in 1998 through a partnership and $1 million donation from the Breast Cancer Society of Canada to the LRCC. The goal of the Unit is to promote interactions between scientists and physicians in London, Ontario to facilitate "translation" of molecular, cellular and genetic research findings in order to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of breast cancer.

For further information, please contact Dr. Ann Chambers using the Email contact form or by phone at 519 685-8652 ext 58652