Updated February 05, 2008

Stefan Ambs, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

Biography: Dr. Stefan Ambs received a Master's degree in Biochemistry from the University of TŸbingen and completed his Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Toxicology, University of WŸrzburg, Germany. He was trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis (1992-1997), National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. He continued his research at a biotechnology company in California and at the Aventis Genomics Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Ambs joined the NCI as a tenure-track investigator in 2001.

Research Program and Goals:

Cancer risk is driven by carcinogen exposure and inherited or acquired host factors. Inherited susceptibility factors will modulate the effects of carcinogens on human cancer risk. Heritable effects of allele variant genes can range from low to high penetrance. Genetic changes in high penetrance genes cause family cancer syndromes but affect only a few people. Variations in low penetrance genes contribute to common cancer, and impinge on large segments of a population. The identification of low-penetrance genetic variations has important public health implications.

We are exploring inter-individual variations in cancer risk defined by allele variant genes and environmental and endogenous risk factors. We are currently testing the hypothesis that allele variants of genes in the inflammation, hormone and angiogenesis pathways modulate the risk of human breast and prostate cancer. Our laboratory has extensive experience in the area of inflammation and cancer. We have a particular interest in the relationship between pro-inflammatory molecules (cytokines, eicosanoids, nitric oxide), angiogenesis and cancer progression.

Our research is aimed to identify genetic risk factors and explore the functional aspects of allele variants in laboratory models. The program will explore both the aspect of cancer susceptibility in a population, based on association, and the underlying molecular mechanisms that cause the increased risk. Our research will combine traditional epidemiology with laboratory investigations. We have established a case-control study of breast cancer in Maryland and have formed a collaboration to investigate prostate cancer in a Danish case-control study. Future projects are aimed to identify risk factors for inflammatory breast cancer and esophageal cancer, as it relates to the BarrettŐs syndrome.

1. 23. Bernig, T., Boersma, B.J., Howe, T.M., Welch, R., Yadavalli, S., Staats, B., Mechanic, L.E., Chanock, S.J., and Ambs, S. The Mannose-binding lectin (MBL2) haplotype and breast cancer: an association study in African American and Caucasian women. Carcinogenesis, 28: 828-836, 2007.

2. 26. Boersma, B.J., Reimers, M., Yi, M., Ludwig, J.A., Luke, B.T., Stephens, R.M., Yfantis, H.G., Lee, D.H., Weinstein, J.N., and Ambs, S. A stromal gene signature associated with inflammatory breast cancer. Int. J. Cancer, 122: 1324-1332, 2008.

3. 27. Wallace, T.A., Prueitt, R.L., Yi, M., Howe, T.M., Gillespie, J.W., Yfantis, H.G., Stephens, R.M., Caporaso, N.E., Loffredo, C.A., and Ambs, S. Tumor immunobiological differences in prostate cancer between African-American and European-American men. Cancer Res., 68: 927-936, 2008.