Grand Rapids: Professor makes an unexpected discovery

By Matt Vande Bunte The Grand Rapids Press GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- At first, the results of her breast cancer research annoyed Dr. Charlotta Lindvall. An experiment produced mice that lacked mammary tumors and instead showed signs of salivary gland disease. Of course, that uncommon cancer is not quite as interesting for a young researcher. But what seemed a stroke of bad luck now has yielded, thanks to the "serendipity of science," a promising finding that could improve clinical treatment in West Michigan and beyond. "I initially was very disappointed. I thought that the whole thing was a failure," said Lindvall, an adjunct investigator at Van Andel Research Institute who also is doing a medical residency in Grand Rapids. "What I realized is that for salivary gland cancer, there is very little known. That really sparked my motivation and interest." Now, Lindvall and colleagues have published a study showing that salivary gland tumors in those mice were shrunk by a drug already approved for treating some other human diseases. So perhaps the same drug could improve treatment for humans with the rare cancer that makes up less than 0.5 percent of all malignancies. Movie critic Roger Ebert is among those afflicted with salivary gland cancer. Lindvall this spring will work on human gene-sequencing to explore causes of the mutations that cause the cancer, and she's seeking funding for a clinical trial to test new treatments. Currently, few treatment options exist and patients can suffer problems such as facial paralysis or deformities, she said. "This is a wonderful picture of the almost immediate possibility to translate findings from a research laboratory," said Dr. Jeff Trent, the institute's president and research director. "It's in a tumor that is so decidedly rare that there isn't a lot of screaming or shouting but, on the other side of the coin, frequently we find that the study of these tumors is important. It might open a broader door for us." Lindvall, 38, credits the Grand Rapids lab for broadening her research focus, opening the door to the salivary gland discovery. She began her postdoctoral fellowship in 2003, developing mouse models to study breast cancer. But the mice in one of her models developed salivary gland tumors instead. She reported at a National Institutes of Health workshop her findings that the human immune suppressant rapamycin shrunk the tumors in mice. Her study was published in November in "Cancer Research," a medical journal. "It is the type of thing that could only be done in a place like VAI with some endowment funding, as it would have been difficult to do this by attracting grant funding" for such a rare disease, said Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the downtown lab. "In many university environments, they'd have just noted this finding and then not focused on this because there wouldn't have been the resources to follow up on it." That's part of the reason VAI this month ranked third in a Scientist magazine survey of the best places to work for postdoctoral fellowships. Postdoctoral fellowships are similar to post-graduate internships for medical doctors. They give new scientists a chance to work with a mentor, get more specialized training and prepare to run their own labs or teach at a university. In Lindvall's case, it provided an opportunity to delve into a disease like salivary gland cancer. Trent chalks up the accidental study to the "serendipity of science." Now it has produced a unique finding that will contribute in a unique way to treatment of a rare cancer, he said. "I'm dedicated to continue this research," said Lindvall, who plans to specialize in oncology. "It's not fair that some cancers we know so much about. "It's very hard to get grant funding for a disease that's very rare. (VAI) is the perfect place to at least get started on something like this." VAI also has proven the perfect place for Lindvall to get started, in another twist of fate, on a family. She first came to the lab in 2001 to supplement her doctoral studies on leukemia with a short-term experiment using gene expression profiling. Then, too, the research did not go as planned, and a 6-week project turned into a 6-month ordeal. But during that time Lindvall met Michael Weinreich, head of VAI's laboratory of chromosome replication. The couple now is married with a 6-year-old daughter, Erica. "It was very frustrating (in the lab), but during that time I got to know my husband," Lindvall said. "Literally the week after Michael asked me out, (the experiment) worked and I finished. "When you do experiments, sometimes your best outcomes are the least predicted." Published: Wed, Apr 13, 2011