Barbara A Helfrich, MSc Instructor, Division of Medical Oncology Education: University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign Urbana-Champaign, IL – 1988 University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine Division of Medical Oncology Tel: (303) 724-3028 Fax: (303) 724-3889 e-mail: barb.helfrich@uchsc.edu Bio Ms. Helfrich has been a member of the Division of Medical Oncology since 1992. Her research focus is translation of molecularly targeted drugs from the bench to the bedside for the treatment of lung cancer patients. Research Ms. Helfrich’s focus is lung cancer research. She investigates the efficacy of novel molecularly targeted agents in both non-small cell (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Following the determination of drug efficacy in a large panel of lung cancer cell lines she attempts to determine biomarkers that can then be used in clinical trials to select patients that are most likely to respond to the novel agent.

FACULTY LIST Lynn Bemis Virginia Borges Paul Bunn David Calverley Ross Camidge Dan Chan Gail Eckhardt Anthony Elias Thomas Flaig Marileila Garcia L. Michael Glode Rene Gonzalez Barb Helfrich Fred Hirsch Christopher Hogan Antonio Jimeno Madeleine Kane Choon-Kee Lee Stephen Leong Wells Messersmith Han Myint Ana Oton Peter Raich William Robinson Pepper Schedin John Tentler William Tse Colin Weekes

Publications

Frederick BA, Helfrich BA, Coldren, CD, Zheng Di, Chan D, Bunn PA, Raben D.  Epithelial to mesenchymal transitiion predicts gefitinib resistance in cell lines of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma.   , Mol Cancer Ther. 2007, 6:1683-91

Helfrich B, Raben D, Varella-Garcia M, Gustafson D, Chan DC, Coldren C, Baron A, Zeng C, Franklin WA, Hirsch FR, Gazdar A, Minna J, Bunn PA Jr.  Antitumor activity of the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib (ZD1839, Iressa™) in NSCLC cell lines and xenografts correlates with gene copy number and EGFR mutations but not EGFR protein levels. 2006, Clin Cancer Res. 2006, 12:7117-25.

Coldren C, Helfrich B,Witta SE, Sugita M, Lapadat R, Zeng C, Baron A, Franklin WA, Hirsch FR, Geraci MW, Bunn PA Jr.  Baseline gene expression predicts sensitivity to gefitinib in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines.  Mol Cancer Res.  2006, 4:251-8.

Raben D, Helfrich B, Chan DC, Ciardiello F, Zhao L, Franklin W, Baron AE, Zeng C, Johnson TK, Bunn PA Jr.  The effects of cetuximab alone and in combination with radiation and/or chemotherapy in lung cancer.  Clin Cancer Res. 2005, 11(2 Pt 1):795-805.

Funding

PI: Pre-Clinical Evaluation of AZD 1152-HQPA: Funding Source: AstraZeneca 9/20/07-12/31/08 Total Direct Cost: $53,000

Co-Inv: Identify Genes and Proteins that Determine Sensitivity to Iressa(gefitinib)/ Zactima(ZD6474): Funding Source: AstraZeneca 6/05/07-11/30/08 Total Direct
Cost: $58,565

Co-Inv: Role of IGF-1R Inhibitors in Ovarian Cancer Funding Source: Adelson Foundation: 9/01/07-2/28/09 Total Direct Cost: $74,498

Co-Inv: Development and Testing of Neuropeptide Signal Pathways for the Treatment and Chemoprevention of Lung Cancer: Funding Source: National Cancer Institute 9/30/92-4/30/08 Total Direct Cost: $212,018/year.

PubMed articles

BACK TO TOP