Article Abstract
- Dr. Maria Abreu obtained an $800,000 grant from the V Basis to help her analysis on the prevention and therapy of colorectal most cancers.
- Dr. Abreu’s work hyperlinks food regimen and life-style adjustments to an irregular microbiome that may enhance the chance of colorectal most cancers.
- A part of the grant might be used to review therapies that scale back DUOX2, an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide.
Maria Abreu, M.D., a famend physician-scientist at Sylvester Complete Most cancers Heart and director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Heart on the College of Miami Miller College of Medication, obtained a prestigious grant from the V Basis to advance her revolutionary work on colorectal most cancers (CRC).
The award accompanies climbing CRC charges. The illness is a main explanation for loss of life amongst Individuals youthful than 50, with conventional screening tips failing to deal with youthful sufferers who develop CRC with out identified threat elements.
“Progress in CRC prevention via colonoscopies has been eroded by the dearth of biomarkers to determine people who would profit from early screening and prevention,” stated Dr. Abreu, a professor of medication and microbiology and immunology on the Miller College with greater than twenty years of experience find higher therapies for debilitating gastrointestinal situations. “There may be an pressing want for early detection methods.”
Stopping and Treating Colorectal Most cancers
As Dr. Abreu investigated how intestine micro organism triggers intestinal irritation in sufferers with inflammatory bowel illness (IBD), she found a powerful hyperlink to colon most cancers. She started looking for methods to stop colon most cancers by controlling the response to the intestine microbiome.
“Lots of the issues we study in a single illness could also be relevant to a different—on this case, colon most cancers,” stated Dr. Abreu. “We suggest that sure micro organism within the intestine triggers will increase in DUOX2, an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide. There are various kinds of colon polyps and CRC, and these kind of polyps have completely different traits.”

Her work hyperlinks DUOX2 expression to irritation and CRC. Utilizing a three-pronged method, her analysis goals to:
• Decide if DUOX2 ranges are larger in particular varieties of polyps and CRC
• Uncover micro organism that results in will increase in DUOX2
• Establish medicine and different bacterial compounds that may scale back ranges of DUOX2
“We’re linking food regimen and life-style adjustments that end in dysbiosis, or an irregular microbiome, to an elevated threat of CRC,” defined Dr. Abreu. “We hope to generate quite a lot of methods to stop and deal with CRC.”
Empowering Girls in Most cancers Analysis
Dr. Abreu will full her analysis with the assistance of the V Basis’s A Grant of Her Personal: The Girls Scientists Innovation Award for Most cancers Analysis. Established to deal with gender disparities and pandemic-related profession setbacks feminine researchers face, this system gives essential funding and help for revolutionary tasks.
“This award not solely helps my analysis but additionally helps to raise feminine illustration and management in most cancers analysis,” says Dr. Abreu. “It’s a step in the direction of a extra equitable scientific group.”
The muse will present $800,000 in funding over 4 years.
“I’m grateful to the V Basis for giving me the chance to pursue the cutting-edge analysis proposal,” stated Dr. Abreu. “It permits us to take dangers which have a higher alternative to make a distinction.”
Management and Imaginative and prescient
Dr. Abreu is enthusiastic about gastroenterology and continues to push the bounds of her subject. She has been working to determine novel therapeutic targets with the potential to deal with sufferers with IBD, particularly within the Hispanic group. She collaborates with different departments and is devoted to coaching physician-scientists and scientists in gastroenterology and hepatology.
Her management additionally extends past her analysis and scientific obligations. Because the president of the American Gastroenterological Affiliation, Dr. Abreu advocates for higher gender fairness in gastroenterology and is decided to create a brighter future for generations to return.
“The prospect of uncovering groundbreaking therapies that can remodel the lives of numerous sufferers is immensely rewarding,” she stated. “It fuels my ardour to make a profound affect on international well being.”
Tags: 2024 V Basis, colorectal most cancers, Dr. Maria Abreu, Sylvester Complete Most cancers Heart, V Basis