VCU professor receives NIH research grant renewal

By Tammy Pham
University News Services

A Virginia Commonwealth University researcher has been awarded a five-year grant renewal totaling nearly $1.6 million from the National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute for his work in liver disease.

Alphonse E. Sirica, Ph.D., chair of the VCU School of Medicine's Division of Cellular and Molecular Pathogenesis in the Department of Pathology, has been funded continuously by the NIH since 1981. His research is focused primarily on determining the cellular and molecular mechanisms of various liver diseases and liver cancers in particular.

Sirica studies bile duct cancer, or cholangiocarcinoma, which has a high mortality rate due to difficulty in early diagnosis and no available treatment for patients with the advanced form.

“Biliary cancer or cholangiocarcinoma, while relatively rare, has been increasing worldwide in both incidence and mortality,” said Sirica. “The reasons for the increase are not yet clear, but what remains evident is the fact that this type of cancer carries with it a very poor prognosis.”

Sirica also says his research approaches will not only apply to biliary cancer, but will also have relevance for other upper gastrointestinal cancers, including pancreatic, gallbladder, esophageal and gastric adenocarcinomas.

Sirica says he plans to use the NIH grant renewal to work toward establishing pre-clinical models as platforms for testing new therapeutic approaches to molecular targets over the next five years.

Sirica received his doctoral degree in biomedical sciences from the University of Connecticut Health Center. He has published various scientific works throughout his career and is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Burroughs Wellcome Visiting Professorship in the Basic Medical Sciences at Penn State’s College of Medicine and the VCU School of Medicine’s Research Recognition Award.

For more information about the grant, visit http://www.pathology.vcu.edu/news/sirica_grant_news.html.