National media reports on UNE professor’s breast cancer detection marker

News of the groundbreaking research by Srinidi Mohan, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy, has spread across the country, with the Associated Press, Hearst, WCSH, WMTW and the Portland Press Herald reporting on his innovation in the field of breast cancer research. Mohan has received a provisional patent for his early detection and disease monitoring method, which uses a marker in the blood to detect the presence of highly aggressive tumors and help track cancer growth.

“I was simply in the right place at the right time,” Mohan says, discussing how he stumbled upon this finding in 2014 while studying nutritional supplements. He found that the marker N^w-hydroxy-L-Arginine (NOHA) was both a sensitive and reliable indicator for estrogen receptor-negative (ER^–) tumors, found in the most aggressive types of breast cancer.

According to the the American Breast Cancer Foundation, these types of cancers are diagnosed in 50,000 to 60,000 individuals each year in the United States, with young women and African Americans most at risk. As these types of cancers are rarely caught in the early stages, they are often a death sentence when discovered.

Mohan, who had never previously studied breast cancer, began testing the marker on cell lines of African-Americans, Caucasians, Jews, Asians and Hispanics to see if it could detect tumor presence across disparate ethnicities. In each case, he found that the results aligned with his hypothesis: low levels of NOHA in the blood are consistent with ER^– tumor presence.

Mohan is now applying for federal grants for this research, and has received funding from the Maine Technology Institute. Subsequently, a clinical trial could be launched, leading to the eventual development of a testing kit to be used by health care providers. This kit could be used not only as a means of cancer detection, but as a tool to track the effectiveness of treatment.

“I find myself humbled. That’s the first thing,” Mohan said, reflecting on his work. “And, I am thankful that I was able to do this, and for the University for supporting it.”

He continued, “I am a faithful person. I think about this every day. I have a purpose in my life.”

Watch interviews on WCSH and WMTW.

Read the article from the Portland Press Herald.

To learn more about the College of Pharmacy, visit www.une.edu/pharmacy

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions