Transporting Drugs into Tumors — Dr. I. David Goldman has been awarded a four-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue research into a membrane protein his laboratory discovered, called the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT), which is responsible for the absorption of folates in the intestine and transport of folates into the brain. Folates are a family of vitamins essential for the growth and proliferations of all tissues. PCFT is active in the environment that surrounds cancer cells. It can deliver anti-cancer drugs, which are designed to block the actions of folates, into cancer cells. Dr. Goldman’s laboratory also discovered that mutations in the PCFT gene cause a disorder called ‘hereditary folate malabsorption.” He is studying how these mutations impair the function of this transporter. Dr. Goldman is director of the Albert Einstein Cancer Center and professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology. He also holds the Susan Resnick Fisher Chair in Brain Cancer Research.
Posted on: Monday, November 17, 2014