Translational Medicine
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-1025
+44 1223 790975
ISSN: 2161-1025
+44 1223 790975
Sevtap Savas
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Transl Med
Colorectal cancer is a common disease with a 5-year survival rate of ~65% in North America. After diagnosis, clinically important outcomes in patients, such as recurrence and death, may be predicted based on several disease and patient related variables (e.g. age and disease stage) and molecular markers (e.g. microsatellite instability). However, even after adjustment for these prognostic parameters, there is still a substantial inter-patient prognostic variability. A part of this variability may be due to the inherited genetic factors (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms) that modify the prognosis. In our laboratory, together with the researchers at the Newfoundland Colorectal Cancer Registry (NFCCR), we aim to identify the clinicopathological, molecular, and genetic markers (such as single nucleotide polymorphisms) that are correlated with the risks of recurrence and death in colorectal cancer patients. Our preliminary results suggest that rectal and colon cancer patients may have different sets of clinicopathological prognostic variables. In addition, we identified several genetic polymorphisms to be associated with the risk of death or the risk of recurrence in colorectal cancer patients. Some of these results were also replicated in a second colorectal cancer cohort. Our future aims are to expand such analyses to a large set of genetic markers and to develop prognostic models integrating genetic polymorphisms in colorectal cancer.
Savas obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics in 1999. She trained as a post-doctoral trainee and a research associate at Louisiana State University (USA), Mount Sinai Hospital Research Institute (Canada) and Princess Margaret Hospital/Ontario Cancer Institute (Canada), before joining the Memorial University (Canada) as an assistant professor in 2008. She has a multidisciplinary research program integrating molecular genetics, bioinformatics, biostatistics and epidemiology and currently focuses on identification of genetic markers that can predict clinical outcome in colorectal cancer patients.