Dr. Ripley Awarded Roderick D. MacDonald Research Funding

June 12, 2019

R. Taylor Ripley M.D., associate professor of Surgery and director of the Mesothelioma Treatment Center at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, has been awarded Roderick D. MacDonald Research Funding for his protocol titled: “Dynamic BH3 Profiling of Mesothelioma Enable Precision-Based Targeting of the Mitochondrial Apoptotic Pathways.”

Mesothelioma is a fatal disease that develops secondary to asbestos exposure and has a 5-year survival rate under 10%. Although tumor cells should die from environmental or therapeutic insults, mesothelioma tumors block the apoptotic (cell death) mechanisms and continue to grow. Resistance to cancer cell apoptosis is a hallmark of cancer that impedes effective therapy. Despite resistance to apoptosis, tumor cells may be more susceptible to cell death if the mechanisms of resistance are identified and directly targeted. Dynamic BH3 profiling (DBP) provides a rapid way to determine which components of the intrinsic pathway are responsible for these resistance mechanisms. By identifying these mechanisms, DBP may serve as a biomarker that uniquely reveals a cell’s vulnerabilities. After determining which anti-apoptotic proteins are resisting cellular death, tumor cell proteins can be targeted with one of several BH3 mimetics (drugs that directly target the individual proteins in this pathway). This approach enables DBP not only to predict outcomes to specific treatments, but to provide a therapeutic strategy able to improve treatment responses. Therefore, DBP may provide translatable, precision-based, clinical information within 48-72 hours of a mesothelioma tumor biopsy.

Dr. Ripley is a nationally recognized, board-certified thoracic surgeon and expert in thoracic surgical oncology specializing in treatment of mesothelioma. In addition to mesothelioma, Dr. Ripley practices all facets of general thoracic surgery and has lectured nationally and published extensively on his work in the field of thoracic oncology and tumor metabolism. Prior to coming to Baylor, Dr. Ripley was associate professor of Surgery in the Thoracic and Oncologic Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute and also did extensive training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.