Pharmacology Shared Resource

The Pharmacology Shared Resource provides preclinical and clinical pharmacologic and pharmacogenetic expertise, methodologies and services for investigators in Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center who are developing and evaluating anti-cancer drugs, imaging agents and chemical compounds.

Supported research includes:

  • Clinical pharmacokinetic studies conducted within phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and developed in Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center programs, such as the Experimental Therapeutics Program
  • Pharmacogenetic studies performed in conjunction with early-phase Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center clinical trials conducted through the Early Cancer Therapeutics Group
  • Preclinical pharmacologic studies undertaken by Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators as part of NCI-funded grants or to generate data for NCI grant applications

Within the Pharmacology Shared Resource is state-of-the-art instrumentation necessary for preclinical investigations and phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials. This instrumentation includes high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography with tandem and quantitative time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

The Pharmacology Shared Resource contributes to clinical trials sponsored by the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, the Children's Oncology Group, the National Cancer Institute and Mayo Clinic.

Pharmacology services

The Pharmacology Shared Resource provides numerous vital services for Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center faculty members and other users, including:

  • Designing pharmacokinetic studies for clinical trials
  • Developing and validating analytical methodologies, such as HPLC, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and mass spectrometry, for the sensitive and specific measurement of drugs and metabolites in biological environments
  • Analyzing patient samples for drug and metabolite concentrations in plasma
  • Analyzing plasma concentration-time data using compartmental, noncompartmental and population pharmacokinetic methods
  • Determining the structure of metabolites and elucidating metabolic pathways
  • Developing genotyping methods, such as DNA sequencing and fluorescence-based real-time PCR with SYBR green or TaqMan detection
  • Validating methods for determining genetic variants, such as gene frequencies and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium confirmed with Coriell sample sets
  • Determining the presence of allelic variants in patient blood samples or tumor samples, including paraffin-embedded tissue
  • Analyzing genotyping data for genotype-phenotype correlations in collaboration with biostatisticians
  • Rapidly analyzing pharmacokinetics and bioavailability for candidate compounds during drug discovery and lead optimization

Cancer-related studies

Cancer-related studies supported by the Pharmacology Shared Resource include:

  • Preclinical and clinical pharmacology studies of Z-endoxifen as a hormonal therapy for breast cancer
  • Clinical pharmacology support for phase 1 clinical trials of anti-cancer agents in children
  • Clinical development of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase1(PARP1) and PARP2 inhibitor veliparib
  • Investigations of a novel antibody-directed chemotherapy approach

To evaluate innovative cancer therapies using a team-based approach, the National Cancer Institute created the Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN). Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center is a lead academic organization in the network, participating in a phase 1 program integrated with a phase 2 program that allows network-funded sites the flexibility to expand phase 1 clinical studies quickly. The Pharmacology Shared Resource plays a crucial role in this work.

Contact

For more information about the Pharmacology Shared Resource and the services available to cancer investigators, contact: