Susanta Hui

Cancer survival rates are increasing with new and improved treatments. However, with the growing number of cancer survivors, cancer treatmentinduced bone loss and bone fracture are becoming a major concern. Powell Center BIRCWH scholar Susanta Hui, Ph.D., is investigating an innovative, non-invasive method to directly detect early changes in bone turnover, which can be used to inform interventions aimed at halting bone loss and preventing bone fractures in breast cancer survivors.

While adjuvant therapy improves the chances for cancer-free survival, it can also cause bone loss and ultimately bone fractures. Successful drugs to prevent bone loss have been developed, but early detection methods of bone loss and response to preventive drugs are urgently required. Current screening methods are slow to detect both bone loss and drug effectiveness, are invasive, and require clinic visits. DXA scanning, which measures bone mineral density, typically is performed once every two years because it is not sensitive enough to detect the smaller bone density changes that occur over shorter intervals.

Hui, assistant professor in the Medical School’s Department of Therapeutic Radiology, is conducting interdisciplinary research to develop new bone biomarkers that allow highly sensitive screening methods. A urinebased screening tool may help physicians identify individual patients susceptible to losing bone mass and effectively monitor patients’ response to bone loss prevention treatment. This would allow for earlier treatment of bone loss as well as tailoring intervention drugs and dosage for maximum efficacy. In addition to developing a sensitive non-invasive screening method, Hui is investigating the effectiveness of an imaging biomarker using PET imaging to determine where bone disease is occurring.

As a BIRCWH scholar, Hui is provided with 55 percent protected time to conduct research. Another benefit of the program, says Hui, is its interdisciplinary focus. “My research is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on the expertise of biomedical engineers, physicists, bone surgeons, animal bone scientists, and cancer physicians,” says Hui. “This program supports translational science that spans disciplines.” Hui’s research will be aided by mentors Douglas Yee, M.D.; Jerry Froelich, M.D., and Chap Le, Ph.D. Hui will also consult with David Mankoff, M.D., Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle, on PET imaging.

*Dr. Hui's bio was taken from the March 2008 issue of the Office of Clinical Research's Accelerate.