Spring 2021
Newsletter U N D p at h o l o g y p ro fe s s o r i d e nt i f i e s a n ove l b i o m a r ke r fo r c a n ce r u s i n g ‘d i g i t a l p at h o l o g y ’ Sandeep
Singhal,
Ph.D.,
"We found that both nuclear and cytoplasmic Kaiso proteins are
assistant professor in the UND
associated with breast cancer outcomes, and each are independent
School of Medicine & Health
predictors of overall breast cancer survival," Singhal said. "Specifically,
Sciences
of
patients stratified by nuclear and cytoplasmic Kaiso are enriched in
Pathology, DaCCoTA Scholars
Department
cell stress and immune response, which differentially predict survival
awardee, and director of the
based on genetic ancestry."
IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Sandeep Singhal
bioinformatics division, recently published
a
paper
in
The general findings presented in Singhal’s study highlight Kaiso’s potential as a predictive biomarker to guide future treatment decisions, particularly in the use of immunotherapy.
Communications Biology - Nature, one of the world’s leading journals
These results pave the way for future applications in prospective
in the natural sciences, on a potential novel biomarker for cancer.
studies where profiles of nuclear and cytoplasmic Kaiso can be
The paper, which explored the use of digital pathology to profile the subcellular distribution of the transcriptional regulator protein Kaiso (ZBTB33) in breast tumors from American women, found new connections between Kaiso and the autophagy-related proteins LC3A
evaluated in clinical trials as both a predictive and prognostic breast cancer biomarker. And because the predictive value of Kaiso varies across racial groups, these findings further emphasize the need for the inclusion of diverse racial and ethnic groups in clinical trials.
and LC3B, "that are associated with features of the tumor immune
"The future of this research is to identify the specific connections
microenvironment, survival, and race."
between pharmacogenetics and race/ethnicity and develop Kaiso as
These findings make Kaiso a possible biomarker for breast cancer risk management and predictor of progression.
a predictive genetic biomarker of overall breast cancer survival and response to therapy," Singhal concluded. "The next stage of this project is to validate the role of Kaiso as a unique predictive genetic
"Precision medicine is an emerging practice of medicine that
biomarker, characterize its functional linkage and association with
combines genomics, big data analytics, and population health to
tumor progression, genomic properties, features of the tumor
produce targeted therapies and guide decisions made in regard to the
microenvironment, and patient exposures through a racially diverse
prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, for cancer in
population with collaboration of different institutions."
particular," explained Singhal. "Racial diversity is tied to both our genetics and our environment, which is why we attempt to link genetics, ancestry, and disease, particularly when race is described in terms of continent of origin." This is why Singhal and his team sought to leverage "Artificial Intelligence-based automated image analysis algorithms" to the subcellular distribution of Kaiso in a racially diverse cohort of breast cancer patients.
Spring 2021 Vol. 1, No. 1
by Brian James Schill