Louise M. Canfield

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and Public Health and Director of
Native American Cancer Research Partnership, Arizona Cancer Center
Ph.D., Vanderbilt University

Beta-Carotene: Metabolism and transport; anticancer actions of dietary phytochemicals.

Research Interests

Within the past two decades, cancer incidence and mortality has increased among Native Americans while decreasing in the population at large.  Native Americans are typically diagnosed later and less likely to survive cancer than are members of any other ethnic group. The Native American Cancer Research Partnership was formed in response to the stated need of the community to investigate the causes of the increasing rates of cancer in their communities.

The Native American Cancer Research Partnership (NACRP) is a collaborative program between the Arizona Cancer Center and Northern Arizona University.  The Partnership is committed to alleviating the unequal burden of cancer among Native Americans of the Southwest by equipping the next generation of researchers and health care professionals with the tools needed to bring about sustained improvement of health to Native American communities.  To this end we have established cancer research, education and outreach programs at the Arizona Cancer Center, at Northern Arizona University and in the communities. NACRP also collaborates closely with American Indian Studies, the Native American Student Association, ArizonaNativeNet and diversity programs at the University of Arizona to serve the needs of Native American students.  NACRP students receive funding for summer research programs and present their research in national meetings.  After graduation, essentially all NACRP students have entered medical or graduate programs.  Graduates of these programs have now begun careers in cancer-related research or clinical oncology.  Our programs are primarily designed to serve Native American students but are open to all students committed to careers focused on cancer prevention and control for Native Americans.

Since the advent of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation in the middle of the 20th century, there has been mounting concern among Native Americans about the possible relationship of uranium and other toxic metals in mine tailings with rising cancer rates on the Reservations.  In response to this concern, NACRP research programs initially focused on the identification and quantitation of toxins in Reservation wells and the study of the chemical and molecular reactions and biological actions of uranium and other toxic metals in vitro. Eleven cancer research projects are currently underway at NAU and AZCC that were initiated in NACRP spanning the fields of basic cancer biology, toxicology, prevention and epidemiology.

Select Publications

Any link on the below references will take you off of the BMCB site and to an abstract of that particular paper.

Pasilis, S., A. Somogyi, K. Herrmann, and J.E. Pemberton. 2006. Ions generated from uranyl nitrate solutions by electrospray ionization (ESI) and detected with Fourier transform ion-cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 17: 230-240.

Stearns, D.M., A. Yazzie, A. Bradley, V.H. Coryell, J.T. Shelley, A. Ashby, and R.C. Lantz. 2005. Uranyl acetate induces hprt mutations and uranium-DNA adducts in Chinese hamster ovary EM9 cells. Mutagenesis 20: 417-423.

Robinson, F., N. Sandoval, J. Baldwin, and P. Sanderson. 2005. Breast cancer education for Native American women: creating culturally relevant communications. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing 9: 689-692.

Selected Recent Publications: Louise Canfield (from previous research)

Wijeratne, E.M., M.X. Liu, N.B. Kantipudi, C.B. Brochini,  A.A. Gunatilaka, and L.M. Canfield. 2006. Novel epoxide photoxoidation products of all-trans and 13-cis retinol inhibit the growth of cancer cells in vitro. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry (in press).

Taren, D.L., B. Duncan, K. Shrestha, N. Shrestha, D. Genaro-Wolf, R.L. Schleicher, C.M. Pfeiffer, A.L. Sowell, J. Greivenkamp, and L. Canfield L. 2004. The night vision threshold test is a better predictor of low serum vitamin A concentration than self-reported night blindness in pregnant urban Nepalese women. Journal of Nutrition 134: 2573-2578.

Wijeratne, E.M., T.J. Turbyville, Z. Zhang, D. Bigelow, L.S. Pierson III, H.D. VanEtten, L. Whitesell, L.M. Canfield, and A.A. Gunatilaka. 2003. Cytotoxic constituents of Aspergillus terreus from the rhizosphere of Opuntia versicolor of the Sonoran Desert. Journal of Natural Products 66: 1567-1573.

Contact Information

Mailing: Louise M. Canfield, Professor Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics University of Arizona NACRP 1527 East Mabel Street Tucson, AZ 85721 Web Site: Home Page

Telephone: 520-621-9368 (Office) 520-621-5985 (Lab) Fax: 520-626-2110 Email: lcs@email.arizona.edu

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