Dr. Erin Howe, who joined the faculty in August 2023, discusses her American Cancer Society-funded research and the collaborative environment that drew her to RFU.

Helix: Can you talk a bit about your research interests?

Dr. Howe: I work on triple negative breast cancer. Specifically, I’m interested in the spread of cancer via a process called metastasis, because it’s largely responsible for the morbidity and mortality of cancer, regardless of the primary cancer. Breast cancer can metastasize to several sites, but I’m mainly interested in metastasis to the brain.

“Brain metastases are terrifying, because they have a longer latency before diagnosis.”

Brain metastases are terrifying, because they have a longer latency before diagnosis. It can be 15 years after patients have been declared cancer-free, because it takes a long time for the breast cancer cells to adapt to the brain environment.

How are you approaching this research here at RFU?

We’re trying to figure out a way to make the cancer cells more recognizable to the immune system, so that we can make the efficacy of immunotherapy comparable to what we see for something like melanoma.

Immunotherapy is antibodies against specific proteins that are on the surface of a cell if that protein is expressed, but if it’s not in the right place, immunotherapy won’t work. So what I study is, can we make the proteins localize to the right place so the antibodies are functional? My hypothesis is if we could alter the trafficking of some of these proteins, we could get them to where they need to be and make immune recognition or immunotherapy more effective.

Fortunately, we have the Midwest Proteome Center right here at RFU, and they have been super helpful getting this project off the ground.

How is this collaboration with the Proteome Center helping to advance your research?

For my study that is funded by the ACS, we’re examining the surface of breast cancer cells. In my lab, we collect all of the proteins that are on the surface of these cells, and we send them to the Proteome Center, where Dr. Charlie Yang cleans up those samples to identify and quantify the proteins. We’re just starting to look at how these trafficking proteins are influencing the cell surface proteome, which is the entire set of proteins displayed on the surface of these cells. We have sent the Proteome Center almost a hundred samples since January, and we’re getting data back so fast. The speed and the quality at which we get results are fantastic.

Is there any other research you’re interested in pursuing at RFU?

I’m also exploring a collaboration with the Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders to examine a potential link between stress and the incidences of triple negative breast cancer in African American women. We know this type of cancer is worse for African American women, but we don’t know why. African American women tend to get this disease at a younger age compared to other racial groups. It’s more metastatic, and they are more likely to die from it. There is something biological driving this massive disparity. I’m interested in exploring the effects of stress on the immune system, particularly in this demographic. It’s something that has always nagged in the back of my mind: If I can find a way to help contribute to this, I should pursue it.