Ann Arbor, MI — November 26, 2012 — A a third-year dental student at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry recently won a third place award in basic science research for her work investigating possible connections between oral cancer and prostate cancer.

Alexandra Forest received the award during the annual American Dental Association/Dentsply Student Clinician Research Award Program and reception last month.  She was one of 70 student clinicians from 36 countries who participated.

Mentored by Dr. Russell Taichman and Yusuke Shiozawa in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, and collaborating with Dr. Kenneth Pienta at the Medical School, Forest investigated how metastatic prostate cancer competes with other cells for “space,” especially in the bones in the jaw.  Occasionally, metastases in the oral region are the first signs of malignancy.

Since chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells, dormant prostate cancer frequently “hides” until chemotherapy ceases.  When that happens, men treated for localized prostate cancer with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy are often believed to be cancer free.  However, several years later, it’s not uncommon for them to learn the cancer is still there but is now incurable.  Since prostate cancer cells seem to develop in bones, Forest has been researching a strategy that coaxes tumor cells out of the marrow.