Seminar Poster

Speaker:
Professor Dave SB Hoon
Director, JWCI Translational Research,
Dept. Translational Molecular Medicine & JWCI Sequencing Centre
Providence Health & Service Systems Research Advisory Board
John Wayne Cancer Institute
Saint Johns Health Centre, Providence Health & Services
Santa Monica, CA, USA

 

About the Speaker:
Dave S.B. Hoon, Professor and Director of Dept. of Translational Molecular Medicine at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, interacts with external academic, industry, government agencies, and international cancer centres to develop innovative translational cancer research opportunities. He has over 30 patents on his studies and has co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed articles and reviews, primarily related to translational molecular oncology of human solid tumours. He is the original pioneer of JWCI in Santa Monica, 1991.

Dr. Hoon pioneered investigations of CTC and circulating cell-free DNA/miRNA biomarkers for monitoring cancer in patients enrolled in phase II/III clinical trials. Since early 1990’s Dr. Hoon’s team has developed molecular biomarkers for molecular staging of sentinel lymph nodes and classification of human solid tumours including CRC, melanoma and breast cancer. In the last decade he and his team have developed programs for assessment of epigenetic and ubiquitin regulatory pathways of solid tumors such as melanoma, breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, and brain tumors. Dr. Hoon has trained over 70 MD/PhD fellows and over a dozen graduate students. The department consists of >20 employees. Awarded multiple NCI RO1s and PO1s, and DOD grants in the past 30 yrs.

Abstract:
Cell-Free DNA (cfDNA) is detected in cancer patients’ plasma can be in several forms including mutations and amplifications which are common distinct tumour biomarkers of metastasis some of which are drug targetable. Prof. Hoon will discuss the utility of multigene cfDNA and paired tumour exon mutations in cancer patients in early stage regional disease followed up through to distant organ metastasis. The studies demonstrate the temporal heterogeneity complexity and "personalisation" of cfDNAs in individual patients can change significantly during tumour progression and surgical treatment. Recently, they have identified gene amplification in the 1q chromosome region associated with progressive tumour metastasis. The detection of 1q amplification can be utilised as a cfDNA biomarker to monitor metastasis. In certain cancers checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy (CII) has shown promising clinical results, however efficient monitoring remains a problem. Recently we have shown that 1q amplification cfDNA has utility in monitoring patients receiving combination CII. They demonstrate the utility of specific types of cfDNA in monitoring patients with metastatic tumour progression during treatment.

CME Accreditation:

* One CME point for attendance approved by the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK). [ Activity No.: 3617 ]

All are welcome.
For enquiries, please contact Miss Tracy Tang at 3763 6088.