Student’s Research Helps Identify New Cancer Drug

By: Bruce Gerson

Senior Kimberly Kicielinski has made a discovery that sent her to the nation's capital not once, but twice in April. During the first week of the month she took her work to the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) and during the last week she met with legislators on Capitol Hill.

Working in a lab at the Hillman Cancer Center at UPMC Health System the senior chemistry and psychology major may have helped to find a new drug for the treatment of kidney cancer. Technically, she successfully isolated the enzyme, CYP3A4, which metabolizes the drug Benzaldehyde Dimethane Sulfonate (BEN), which has shown an ability to fight off Renal Cell (kidney) Cancer.

A scientific research team led by Dr. Merrill Egorin, UPMC Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, is studying BEN and performing preclinical research on the drug. Isolating and studying CYP3A4 will enable future research to optimize the use of BEN in cancer patients.

BEN is especially promising, according to Kicielinski, because it blocks duplication of genetic material (DNA) that drives cell activity associated with cancer growth.

Normally, the double helix of a DNA strand unwinds and reveals two complimentary strands that serve as templates for building new DNA double helices.

"BEN has a branched side arm that can easily interact with these DNA pairs," Kicielinski explains. "This interaction renders the DNA incapable of replication. Since it has two of the sites, BEN is capable of cross-linking DNA — or binding to complimentary strands. This prevents replication by preventing the DNA from unzipping, rendering both strands useless."

Kicielinski was invited to an event on Capitol Hill April 24-25 in which about 75 students from across the country presented their research in a variety of disciplines to their hometown legislators. Scientific agencies and organizations also attended to gain insight to the next great revelation.

Kicielinski says BEN is under evaluation by the National Cancer Institute. "I think it has potential. Even if this specific drug isn't used, it's an important steppingstone for other drugs in the future.

"You have to look into a lot of dead-ends before you get something that works," says Kicielinski, who will attend medical school at Penn State this fall.

For the last three summers the Baldwin, Pa., native has worked at the Hillman Center in Dr. Egorin’s Molecular Therapeutics and Drug Discovery lab. Her research advisor is Carnegie Mellon Chemistry Professor Paul Karol, for whom she has been a supplemental instructor.

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