The research in the laboratory of Clifford W. Schweinfest, Ph.D. has focused primarily on the role of the DRA (for Down-Regulated in Adenoma and Adenocarcinoma) gene in colon cancer and normal colon mucosa homeostasis. The DRA gene was originally identified from a subtractive hybridization experiment between normal colon and colon adenocarcinoma. It’s expression was subsequently shown to be severely down-regulated or lost altogether in a large majority of adenomas and adenocarcinomas. DRA suppresses growth in normal colon epithelial cells, hence its loss in adenomas and adenocarcinomas contributes to unregulated growth characteristic of neoplastic cells. His lab has identified several conditions that appear to be required for DRA to act as a growth suppressor and these provide for areas of active investigation into the mechanism by which DRA works. In addition to its growth suppressive functions, DRA also acts as an anion exchanger. This second function is completely independent from DRA’s growth suppression function in vitro, but may play a role in vivo. A mouse lacking DRA function has been created to assess the in vivo role of DRA in colon tumorigenesis.
Dr. Schweinfest has been at the Hollings Cancer Center since 1993 and became a Professor of Medicine in 1999. He has served as a reviewer for nearly a dozen national
Clifford W. Schweinfest, Ph.D.
Dr. Schweinfest's Research Interests
The DRA gene in colon cancer and normal colon mucosa homeostasis
scientific journals, holds several patents, and has been a peer reviewer for the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes and the Dutch Cancer Society. Service to MUSC includes chairing and reviewing multiple University Research Committee grant proposal reviews, and participation in the search committee for the Dept. of Neurosciences. Dr. Schweinfest is currently an American Cancer Society Celebration on the Hill Ambassador.
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