Nerissa Viola, Ph.D., associate professor of Oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and leader of the Molecular Imaging Research Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, has won the 2024 Drs. Anthony and Joyce Danielski Kales Endowment Faculty Award for Innovative Cancer Research.
Dr. Viola received the award for her role as the principal investigator in a collaborative preclinical study that succeeded in finding a way to potentially suppress tumor growth for prostate cancer patients.
Dr. Viola’s research, “Selective ablation of TRA-1-60+ pluripotent stem cells suppresses tumor growth of prostate cancer,” was published in 2023 in Volume 13, Issue 7 of Theranostics (Impact Factor: 11.6). Co-authors include Karmanos and WSU investigators Jordan White, Nicholas Ramos, Allen-Dexter Saliganan, Jacob Lindquist, Kayla Conner, Steve Patrick, Seongho Kim and Elisabeth Heath; National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health researchers Jooh-Young Chung, Meghan Bell, Freddy Escorcia; Michael Schopperle from Corewell Health and Wendy Wiesend of Curemeta LLC.
“This award underscores the promising field of radiotheranostics as an emerging cancer treatment. Radiotheranostics uses the same drug that can detect and treat tumors by merely switching the radioisotope attached to it. Developing this agent is a significant undertaking, requiring multidisciplinary expertise of multiple collaborators. I am extremely grateful to the co-authors for their time and effort, especially to Dr. Elisabeth Heath, who was instrumental in introducing this project years ago,” Dr. Viola said.
The research also helped Dr. Viola answer an intellectual curiosity. Since becoming a postdoctoral, she had wondered if it was possible to detect and ablate cancer cells.
“The study demonstrates that by using radiopharmaceutical therapy targeting the biomarker TRA-1-60 (TRA), selective ablation of pluripotent cancer stem cells suppressed prostate cancer progression. We have also further shown that these TRA+ cells are culprits of tumor regrowth and require targeted treatment to prevent relapse and metastasis,” she explained.
The team used an antibody specific to TRA, radiolabeled with zirconium-89, an isotope for positron emission tomography imaging to detect these cells within the prostate tumors. After detection, they substituted the isotope with Lutetium-177, an isotope that emits beta particles that cause single and double-strand DNA breaks. The team injected the drug in mice with prostate cancer cells following the guidelines established by Wayne State University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. They then subsequently looked at tumor growth delay over time.
“Preclinical studies using rodents, such as mice, allow us to test the efficacy of drugs like TRA-targeted RPT (radiopharmaceutical therapy). Once we validate and confirm the potency of the drugs, we can move forward to clinical trials in prostate cancer patients,” Dr. Viola said.
From the experiments, researchers came to three conclusions: There is a clinical significance of TRA expression in prostate cancer, engineered and tested radiotheranostic agents can image and treat TRA+ prostate cancer stem cells, and the ablation of the TRA+ cancer stem cells suppressed the growth of prostate cancer. The findings lead to the potential for future studies in other cancers with TRA expression, such as pancreatic, gastric and ovarian cancers.
“The next step would be to look at targeted drug combinations with TRA RPT that will not only suppress growth but completely eradicate the tumor and prevent relapse,” Dr. Viola said.
Dr. Viola was honored for her research at a special seminar Oct. 18 as part of the Karmanos Cancer Institute Seminar Series. She presented her research specific to the publication and received a plaque honoring her achievements. Additional publications highlighting Dr. Viola’s research will be displayed at the Elliman Clinical Research Building on the School of Medicine’s campus and the Hudson-Webber Cancer Research Center on the Karmanos campus.
The Kales Award in Oncology was created in 2012 at the WSU School of Medicine to recognize exemplary and innovative cancer research. Drs. Anthony and Joyce Danielski Kales established the award in memory of their brother and brother-in-law, Nicholas Kales, who died from lung cancer. The award is given to a WSU faculty member who is also a Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute researcher. Selection is based on a comprehensive review of published articles within the previous year.
Drs. Anthony and Joyce Danielski Kales are both graduates of the WSU School of Medicine, and each received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the School of Medicine. Dr. Anthony Kales authored or co-authored more than 300 scientific publications and six books. He is internationally recognized as a founder and leader in modern sleep research and was one of a handful of founders worldwide in sleep disorders medicine. In 2007, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Athens School of Medicine in Greece. Under the leadership of Drs. Anthony and Joyce Kales, the Central Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute was established in 1984 at the Penn State College of Medicine to provide mental health training programs in child mental health, geriatric mental health, serious and persistent mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse.
Dr. Anthony Kales died in December 2023, leaving a legacy of philanthropy, mentorship, scholarship and a commitment to human connection.