Dr. Irma H. Russo is a Member of the Medical Science Division and Chief of the Molecular Endocrinology Section of the Breast Cancer Research Laboratory at Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Adjunct Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Thomas Jefferson University College of Medicine.
Dr. Irma H. Russo's laboratory has demonstrated that the administration of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) to young virgin rats results in maximal tumorigenic response, but tumor development is inhibited if the animals have completed one full term pregnancy prior to carcinogen exposure. This preventive effect is mostly mediated by the differentiation of the mammary gland induced by pregnancy as well as by treatment of virgin rats with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a glycoprotein hormone produced by the placenta. This hormone also inhibits the progression of mammary carcinomas in virgin rats treated with DMBA. The inhibition of tumor initiation and progression is mediated by induction of the synthesis of inhibin, a secreted protein with tumor suppressor activity, and inhibition of cell proliferation, which is preceded by activation of programmed cell death (PCD) genes both in the rat mammary gland in vivo and in human mammary epithelial cells in vitro. The induction of PCD gene activation by hCG is a p53-dependent process modulated by c-myc expression, with partial dependence on the bcl-2 family for programmed cell death. She has demonstrated that r-hCG and urinary hCG inhibit both the initiation and progression of DMBA-induced rat mammary carcinomas. The relevance of the findings lies in the potential use of hCG as a chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agent in breast cancer, utilizing the detection of activation of programmed cell death genes as an early end point of hCG action. Dr. Goldstein and Daly are developing clinical trials in collaboration with Dr. Russo and Dr. Torosian to investigate the role of hCG in both the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.
Dr. Irma Russo is an Experimental and Human Pathologist with special training in molecular endocrinology. She has published more than 180 original articles in peer-reviewed journals and numerous book chapters and reviews/editorials. She has had continuous peer-reviewed funding for her own breast cancer research program since being appointed as Member in 1991.
Dr. Russo currently is serving on grant review committees for the Department of Defense and other Funding Institutions. She is the Editor in Chief of The Journal of Women's Cancer.