Wang, Eunice S., MD

Staff Physician
Leukemia Service, Department of Medicine

Research Assistant Professor, Leukemia Service
Departments of Medicine and Immunology
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Phone: (716) 845-3544
Fax: (716) 845-8446
Eunice.Wang@roswellpark.org

Dr. Eunice Wang joined the faculty of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in 2003 and was appointed to the Leukemia Section of the Department of Medicine. She earned her medical degree from the Keck-University of Southern California School of Medicine and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Yale University, New Haven, CT in 1999. From 1999 to 2003, she completed clinical hematology-oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.

Dr Wang is licensed in New York State and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (Internal Medicine 1999; Medical Oncology, 2003). She also is a Research Assistant Professor, School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University of Buffalo. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, and American Society of Hematology.

Dr. Wang has authored or co-authored several journal articles, abstracts and book chapters. In addition to her clinical practice, she maintains an active translational laboratory research program into the role of angiogenesis and telomerase in the hematological malignancies.

Description of Research

Leukemia is a group of malignant diseases arising from abnormal hematopoietic stem cells. The cornerstone of therapy for most forms of acute leukemia remains intensive chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation. Anti-angiogenic therapies aimed at the endothelial cells in tumor blood vessels, endothelial precursor cells from the bone marrow, and other contributing growth pathways in the tumor microenvironment are promising for the control of leukemia growth as high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and increased numbers of blood vessels have been found in bone marrows of leukemia patients.

Our laboratory focuses on the role of angiogenesis in promoting the growth of hematological malignancies. The effects of angiogenic growth factors and angiogenic inhibitors are being studied on human tumor cells grown in culture and primary leukemia samples using cellular and molecular biology techniques.

In addition, because the primary sites of leukemia in human patients are the bone marrow and blood, we have developed immunodeficient mouse xenograft models engrafted with human tumor in the bone marrow, peripheral blood, and other sites. The development of immunodeficient mouse models capable of growing human leukemia and patient cells in a disseminated fashion will allow us to rapidly screen these anti-angiogenic and other biological agents for effects on clinically relevant human leukemia in vivo. Use of these animal models will: a) confirm the preclinical efficacy of these novel therapeutic agents in human disease; b) test promising therapeutic agents alone and in combination with conventional chemotherapy; and c) identify characteristics of disease biology which may predict response to therapies in future clinical investigations. We are also exploring small animal imaging techniques as an alternative means to monitor disease in animals at repeated intervals. The long-term aim of these studies will be to translate these agents into early stage clinical trials for acute leukemia.

Key Publications

1. Wang ES, Teruya-Feldstein J, Wu Y, Zhu Z, Hicklin DJ, Moore MAS. Targeting autocrine and paracrine VEGF receptor pathways regresses human lymphoma xenografts in vivo (manuscript under revision).
2. Budak-Alpdogan, Alpdogan O, Banarjee D, Wang ES, Moore MAS, Bertino JR. Post-transplant methotrexate and cytarabine inhibits progression of human diffuse large cell lymphoma in NOD-SCID mice transplanted with double mutant dihydrofolate reductase and cytidine deaminase fusion gene transduced bone marrow (Submitted).
3. Wang ES, Wu K, Chin A, Chen-Kiang S, Gryaznov S, Moore MAS. Telomerase inhibition with an oligonucleotide telomerase template antagonist: in vitro and in vivo studies in multiple myeloma and lymphoma. Blood 103 (1): 258-266, 2004 (Published Blood online Sept 11, 2003).
4. Wang ES, O'Connor OA, She Y, Zelenetz A, Sirotnak FM, Moore MAS. Activity of a novel anti-folate (PDX, 10 propargyl 10-deaza-aminopterin) against human lymphoma is superior to methotrexate and correlates with tumor RFC-1 gene expression. Leuk Lymphoma 44 (6): 1027-1035, 2003.