BROOKINGS (KELO AM) - Pre-eminent breast cancer researcher V. Craig Jordan, the "Father of Tamoxifen," will speak at South Dakota State University April 13.Jordan is professor of breast medical oncology and professor of molecular and cellular oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, one of an original three U.S. comprehensive cancer centers established by the National Cancer Act of 1971 and the largest freestanding cancer center in the world.
Jordan joined MD Anderson in September 2014 after serving as scientific director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.Tamoxifen is a groundbreaking therapeutic anti-cancer drug that is credited with saving countless lives worldwide.A native of New Braunfels, Texas, Jordan was raised and educated in England and discovered the breast cancer prevention properties of tamoxifen and the scientific principles for adjuvant therapy with anti-hormones. He reinvented the failed contraceptive as a breast cancer treatment.
The drug, in existence since the 1960s, was created to block estrogen in hopes of preventing pregnancy. This failed and the program was abandoned.In 1977, Jordan developed the strategy of long-term adjuvant tamoxifen therapy as well as describing and deciphering the properties of a new group of medicines called selective estrogen receptor modulators a decade later. He was the first to discover the preventive abilities of both tamoxifen (1976) and the drug raloxifene (1987). The Food and Drug Administration approved the medicines for reducing breast cancer cases in high-risk women.
How tamoxifen worksTamoxifen lowers the risk of breast cancer recurrence, breast cancer in the opposite breast and death from cancer. It does so by preventing the cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow. Hormone receptor-positive breast cancers need the hormone estrogen to grow.Tamoxifen attaches to the hormone receptor in the cancer cell, blocking estrogen from attaching to the receptor. This slows or stops the tumor's growth. Another advantage of tamoxifen is that it can be used to treat breast cancer in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women.Lecture scheduleJordan will deliver two lectures at SDSU as the third annual Francis Miller Distinguished Lecturer.
His talk to the general public—"The Tamoxifen Tale and Beyond"—is 7 p.m. April 13 in the Great Hall (Room 109) of the McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor Center, 631 22nd Ave. In the 45-minute talk, Jordan will describe the journey of discovery to develop tamoxifen and selective estrogen receptor modulators to advance women's health. A short question-and-answer period will follow.Jordan's scientific lecture—"Drug Resistance to Anti-hormone Therapy: Estrogen-Induced Apoptosis"—will be delivered at 3 p.m. in Room 027 of the Avera Health and Science Center.Both lectures are open to the public and there is no admission charge.Professor Xiangmiang Guan, a professor of medicinal chemistry in the SDSU College of Pharmacy, said Jordan's discovery of tamoxifen therapy started the hormone therapy era and revolutionized the breast cancer treatment. "As pharmaceutical scientists, we are very excited to have a chance to learn from Dr. Jordan. But this is also a time when the community can hear for themselves the story on the breakthrough of one of the most important drugs of our time," Guan said.Francis Miller LectureshipCancer is one of the major research focus areas in the College of Pharmacy. The Francis Miller lectureship was established to bring leading cancer researchers to the campus, providing a great opportunity for the faculty, students and the public to learn from leading scientists.
The lectureship is supported by the Francis Miller fund. Francis J. ("Johnny") Miller, who died in 1987, was a longtime pharmacist and drugstore owner in South Dakota. His trust assets came to the South Dakota State University Foundation in 2009 to support pharmacy research and special educational programs, such as the Francis Miller Lectureship.For more information, contact the College of Pharmacy at 688-6197 or email sdsu.pharmacy@sdstate.edu.