17 April 2005	Sunday	07 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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LAHORE, April 16: The University of Health Sciences has launched a research project to identify markers for early diagnosis of breast cancer in Pakistan.

The study, which is being carried out by the university’s physiology department in collaboration with the Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute, Islamabad, is first of its kind in the country as it will reveal the role of genetic factors involved in causing breast cancer.

Explaining various facets of the project, UHS physiology department head Prof Muhammad Arslan said here on Saturday the oncology research project was an initiative to lay the foundation for cancer research in the department.

Using breast cancer as a model, he said, these efforts would increase understanding of the biological events that enabled cancer progression leading directly to improved strategies for early detection, prognostication, prediction of response to therapy, and new targets for therapeutic intervention.

Prof Arslan said the incidence of breast cancer varied as much as tenfold between different countries. He, however, said this difference was decreasing because the incidence of disease was on the rise in Asia.

“Although non-genetic factors may explain a significant proportion of the international variation in the rates of breast and ovarian cancer, this project focuses on genetic predisposition conferred by mutations in two genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) in particular, as they contribute to breast cancer in Pakistani women,” he said.

UHS vice-chancellor Prof Malik Husain Mubashar said the university was focusing on development of interdisciplinary areas of research and clinical investigators. “The oncology project will increase research opportunities for undergraduate life-science students, medical scholars and PhD fellows,” he said.

He said the project would help enhance the extent and quality of cancer research at the university, besides improving facilities for patients in the country.

He said the project had five themes — carcinogenesis, early detection and cancer prevention; cancer epidemiology; identification of genetic biomarkers; cell cycling and signalling; and cancer and immunity.