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Howard McLeod

director of the pharmacology core at the Siteman Cancer Center

Expertise: pharmacogenetics, pharmacology, translational research, tumor markers, chemotherapy

Bio: There is a high degree of variation in patient response to medicines. The McLeod laboratory uses genetic tools to perform in vitro, ex vivo, and clinical evaluations to discover, validate, and apply molecular predictors of therapeutic outcome. This includes candidate gene and genome-wide human association studies, computational and functional characterization of newly discovered genetic variants, and the use of multiple strains of inbred mice to provide a broadbased approach to understand inherited sources of variability in drug effect.

Education:
  • Doctoral Degree in Pharmacology at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science


News Stories & Tip Sheets:

Showing Stories 1 through 7 of 7.  - Show Home
Choosing tumor treatment

Cancer therapy based on anatomical location may soon be obsolete

April 18, 2006 -- The results of a new study at the School of Medicine could eventually have oncologists removing their specialties from their shingles by making therapy based on a tumor's anatomical location obsolete. When the researchers compared eight different kinds of cancerous tumors, they saw that whether the tumor was, for instance, a breast tumor, lung tumor or colon tumor didn't correlate to how the cancers interacted with a standard anticancer drug.


Genetic side effects

Genes' influence on common drugs may affect health-care quality, cost

Jan. 4, 2006 -- Chances are good that a medication you take is one of several drugs that can be affected by genetic factors, according to researchers at the School of Medicine and the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. They found that 29 percent of patients seen at local primary-care offices had taken at least one of 16 drugs that can cause adverse reactions in genetically susceptible people.


Gene specific

Survival of heart patients on beta-blockers varies greatly with genetic variation

Sept. 27, 2005 -- Survival of heart attack and unstable angina patients placed on beta-blocker therapy corresponds to specific variations in their genes, according to a study by researchers at the School of Medicine and the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.


Designer treatment

$10 million grant enables research on gene-guided chemotherapy

Aug. 29, 2005 -- Taking into account that each of us has unique physical characteristics partly determined by variations in our genes, pharmacogenetics researchers at the School of Medicine are finding ways to personalize cancer treatments.


Tailoring treatment

Profile of tumor genes shows need for individualized chemotherapy

May 10, 2005 --
A look at the activity of 24 genes in 52 patients as those genes respond to the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorourancil
A look at the activity of 24 genes in 52 patients as those genes respond to the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorourancil
Oncologists aren't sure exactly why patients with the same cancer often respond very differently to the same treatment, but a growing body of evidence suggests the answer lies somewhere in the genes. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have become the first to profile the activity of whole sets of genes involved in processing chemotherapeutic drugs.


Attacking the leading killer of diabetics

Fixing diabetic heart complications is focus of $14 million research grant

March 8, 2005 -- A five-year, $14 million grant will establish a center at the School of Medicine that will develop better ways to prevent and treat heart disease in diabetic patients. The grant was awarded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).


What drug is right for you?

Genes' effects on drugs revealed by new screening process

Aug. 3, 2004 --
An individual's genetic code may help determine the best treatment options.
Scientists have developed a new screening technique to help them look for genes that change patients' responses to cancer drugs and other medications.



Showing Stories 1 through 7 of 7.  - Show Home

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Related Information
Media Assistance:

Gwen Ericson
Assistant Director of Research Communications
ericsong@wustl.edu

(314) 286-0141
Related Links:
McLeod's Hematology Web page
McLeod's DBBS Web page
McLeod's Siteman Web page

Related Groups:

Schools:
School of Medicine

Departments:
Cancer
Developmental Biology
Genetics

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Related Topics:
Cancer
Medical Genetics

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Revised:

Monday, July 25, 2005


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