Last month, LBCA welcomed Dr. Daniel Stover as the newest member of our critical resource – our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). An internationally-renowned group of basic, translational and clinical scientists with significant experience studying ILC, LBCA’s SAB members volunteer their time to support LBCA’s mission, vision, and goals. They help ensure that all of the resources LBCA shares are scientifically vetted, and guide our new resource development and ILC research grantmaking priorities.
We are thrilled to have medical oncology specialist Dr. Daniel Stover as our newest SAB member. Dr. Stover is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology and Department of Biomedical Informatics at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC). He specializes in the treatment of patients with breast cancer at the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center. He shared his interest in lobular breast cancer and aspirations to advance lobular breast cancer research with us in a recent interview. He explained that he became involved with the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance shortly after he and his colleagues had established their own Lobular Breast Cancer ‘Team Science Neighborhood’ through the Ohio State Translational Breast Cancer Research Program. This “neighborhood” focuses specifically on lobular breast cancer and brings together basic biologists, clinicians, radiation oncologists, and others to accelerate research. He shared that they are investing in clinical pathways to optimize patient experience and patient care, develop standard protocols to collect patient specimens and data from those patients willing to participate, and dedicating time to coordinated research efforts to advance basic biology to patient care focused on lobular breast cancer research. He said that in joining the LBCA SAB he is excited to build his connections with the lobular breast cancer scientific and advocate community.
Dr. Stover’s research focus is clinical computational oncology – the application of computational approaches to leverage the immense available and potential data from tumor profiling to improve outcomes for patients with cancer. By working at the intersection of computational biology and clinical oncology, he seeks to advance novel technologies as a critical part of the future of how we will treat and cure cancer.
Specifically, Dr. Stover’s lab develops and implements ‘big data’ solutions to clinical challenges in breast cancer. As an early leader in the field of circulating tumor DNA ‘liquid biopsy’ in breast cancer, Dr. Stover has shepherded a low cost, minimally invasive test from research to clinical application in collaboration with the Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT. At OSUCCC, Dr. Stover supports collaborative research across the institution, serving as Director of Translational Breast Cancer Research and Principle Investigator of Total Cancer Care. To read Dr. Stover’s complete bio, click here.
Learn more about Dr. Stover’s perspective on lobular breast cancer in the Q&A below:
Q: Tell us a little about your expertise, your invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) research, and why you think it is important to focus on ILC research?
As a physician-scientist, my focus is both on understanding underlying biology and also translating our knowledge to impact patient care and outcomes. A specific focus on lobular breast cancer is critical because lobular breast cancer makes up about 15% of all breast cancers and clearly has a distinct biology from ductal cancers, yet is frequently lumped in with ductal cancers. There is a critical need and key opportunity to match treatments to specific patients using all of the incredible available data – and we strongly believe that this is essential for lobular breast cancer.
One of the main areas that we are seeking to enhance is ways we can better monitor lobular breast cancer using minimally-invasive ‘liquid biopsy.’ Liquid biopsy technology has rapidly advanced over the past 5 years and new approaches are incredibly sensitive. We have long studied liquid biopsy in breast cancer and have recently moved to focus on lobular breast cancer, both at Ohio State and also in partnership with other institutions like UPMC and Cleveland Clinic.
Q: Can you tell us about your most important research related to ILC, how your research evolved your thinking, and its applications to clinical management?
In the laboratory, we seek to understand mechanisms of resistance to anti-estrogen therapies, which remain a mainstay of treatment for most lobular breast cancers. Specifically, we have identified a specific vulnerability related to cell metabolism that lobular breast cancer cells resistant to anti-estrogen tamoxifen may have – and are now seeking to find ways to exploit that vulnerability to overcome anti-estrogen resistance in lobular breast cancer.
Q: How did you become involved with the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance?
I became involved with the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance shortly after we established our own Lobular Breast Cancer ‘Team Science Neighborhood’ at Through our Ohio State Translational Breast Cancer Research Program. This neighborhood focuses specifically on lobular breast cancer and brings together basic biologists, clinicians, radiation oncologist, and others to accelerate research. We are investing both in clinical pathways to optimize patient experience and patient care, standard protocols to collect patient specimens and data from those patients willing to participate, and coordinated research efforts to advance basic biology to patient care focused on lobular breast cancer research.
Q: Can you talk about working with patient advocates and why it is important to you and your research?
As a physician-scientist, the questions we research in the lab are ones that are important to patients. We find that patients frequently have the best insights into these most important questions. At Ohio State, we have our Breast Cancer Scientific Patient Advisory Council (BCS-PAC) that brings together, educates, and gains feedback from breast cancer patient advocates – including those with lobular breast cancer. Further, the national lobular breast cancer advocacy networks, like LBCA, are a powerful force to raise awareness about lobular.
Q: Can you leave us with a thought about what’s next for you, what do you see coming on the horizon?
We are excited to build our Lobular Breast Cancer ‘Team Science Neighborhood’ and enhance our connections with the lobular breast cancer scientific and advocate community. We are thankful for the LBCA and excited to be involved.
