For five years, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist Pengchun Yu, Ph.D., led experiments aimed at better understanding a disorder called lymphedema.
Days after a scientific journal published Yu’s findings, a family member began her own battle with the condition, and suddenly his studies took on extra significance.
Lymphedema is the swelling and fluid buildup resulting from blockage in the lymphatic system, which helps remove waste and toxins. The condition can be caused by a genetic mutation, infection or injury, but most commonly it results from surgery or radiation for cancer, particularly breast cancer.
According to one study, up to 40% of women who undergo lymph node removal develop lymphedema.
“Often the surgeon or oncologist will remove or kill lymph nodes near the tumor, because otherwise cancer cells can break away from the primary tumor and enter the lymphatic system, which is how they metastasize somewhere else in the body,” Yu said.
Yu’s lab has discovered a possible way to treat or perhaps even prevent lymphedema following surgery. His solution involves knowing when to turn on and off a group of proteins that are essential in maintaining lymphatic vessels.
Existing drugs are prescribed to inhibit the proteins for multiple medical reasons. The best-known of these drugs, rapamycin, is used to prevent rejection of transplanted organs and to slow tumor progression and growth.
Yu’s discovery raises new questions about whether such drugs might play a role in lymphedema following cancer surgery or radiation.
His discovery was published online recently in the scientific journal Developmental Cell. A few days later, Yu learned that a family member who had undergone breast cancer surgery was now being treated for lymphedema.
“That gave my research new perspective,” he said. “I’ve always been passionate about finding better treatments for lymphedema, but this experience makes it even more meaningful.”
Yu next hopes to test the effects of certain compounds that will inhibit or promote the chemical activity of the proteins he’s identified in experimental models of lymphedema.
“Our lymphatic system is critical in collecting excess fluid, filtering waste and fighting infection,” said OMRF Vice President of Research Courtney Griffin, Ph.D. “Dr. Yu’s discovery greatly expands our knowledge about how to grow and maintain lymphatics, especially as someone is recovering from breast cancer.”
Yu’s research was supported by grant Nos. HL162985 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and GM139763 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, both part of the National Institutes of Health. Additional funding was provided by the American Heart Association, the Presbyterian Health Foundation and the Oklahoma Center for Adult Stem Cell Research, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.
