Stanley R. Hamilton, M.D.

1973, Indiana University School of Medicine

UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Pathology

Research Interests: Molecular genetics and genomics of gastrointestinal neoplasia and Barrett esophagus; identification of molecular markers for application in screening, surveillance, diagnosis, prognosis, prediction of response and resistance to therapy, and therapeutic targets

Our laboratory research investigates molecular genetics and genomics of gatrointestinal neoplasia with emphasis on translational applications to the management of patients with GI cancer. Our multidisciplinary research activities focus on two main areas: 1) Identification and application of molecular markers for prognosis of gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas and for prediction of response to therapy. 2) The etiology and molecular pathogenesis of colorectal neoplasia.

We study the relationship of molecular markers in tumors to survival of patients in clinical trials. These correlative laboratory studies are directed at colonic, rectal and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Discovery of new markers is based on application of genomics and molecular genetics to determine the abnormalities in genes and gene expression responsible for the molecular subtypes of colorectal cancers, especially in relation to their biological behavior.

We also carry out molecular pathology studies to identify environmental, especially dietary, factors that can be related to molecular genetic abnormalities in colorectal cancer and its precursors. These investigations include studies of specimens from patients in clinical trials of chemopreventive agents incorporating epidemiologic data and international studies of tumors from patient populations with low rates of colorectal cancer for comparison to the high-incidence population in the United States.

A tutorial in our laboratory will provide experience with cDNA microarrays and validating mRNA technologies (northern blots, RT-PCR, in-situ hybridization), genetic analyses with a variety of methodologies, immunohistochemistry and western blots, tissue micro-specimen arrays, and translational studies using human tumor specimens and clinical data.

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Einspahr JG, Martinez ME, Jiang R, Hsu CH, Rashid A, Bhattacharrya AK, Ahnen DJ, Jacobs ET, Houlihan PS, Webb CR, Alberts DS, Hamilton SR (2006) Associations of Ki-ras proto-oncogene mutation and p53 gene overexpression in sporadic colorectal adenomas with demographic and clinicopathologic characteristics. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention 15:1443-1450.

Soliman AS, Lo AC, Banerjee M, El-Ghawalby N, Khaled HM, Bayoumi S, Seifeldin IA, Abdel-Aziz A, Abbruzzese JL, Greenson JK, Hamilton SR (2007) Differences in K-ras and p53 gene mutations among pancreatic adenocarcinomas associated with regional environmental pollution. Carcinogenesis 28:1794-9.

Shen L, Catalano PJ, Benson AB 3rd, O'Dwyer P, Hamilton SR, Issa JP (2007) Association between DNA methylation and shortened survival in patients with advanced colorectal cancer treated with 5-fluorouracil based chemotherapy. Clinical Cancer Research 13:6093-8, 2007.

Program Affiliation:
Program in Human and Molecular Genetics