Dr. Emmanuel Akporiaye

<< Back to 2008 American Scholars

Fulbright Senior Scholar

Media profile

Breast cancer accounts for 1 in 5 of all cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Mortality rates from breast cancer are disproportionately higher in African-American women in the United States and in Indigenous Australian women as compared to white women in both countries.

Dr. Emmanuel Akporiaye, Professor and Chair at the Department of Immunobiology, University of Arizona, will have the opportunity to further his research into use of novel vitamin E analogs to treat breast cancer at Griffith University in Australia after receiving a Fulbright Senior Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission.

Dr. Akporiaye’s project will assess the effectiveness of combining a novel vitamin E analog, alpha-TEA with immunotherapy to treat breast cancer.

“Unlike current chemotherapeutic drugs, TEA is selectively toxic to cancer cells. Breast cancer disproportionately causes higher mortality rates in African-American women and Indigenous women of Australia and this research could contribute to bridging this cancer health disparity,” Dr. Akporiaye said.

The research will be conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Jiri Neuzil, at the Institute of Health and Medical Research at Griffith University, who is a renowned expert on vitamin E analogs. “The research activities in both of our laboratories complement each other – Dr. Neuzil’s research focuses on how these agents selectively kill cancer cells, while my research focuses on how they stimulate the immune system,” explains Dr Akporiaye.

The specific aims of the proposed research are to determine the effectiveness of dietary alpha-TEA plus DC vaccination in treating breast cancer and to assess the quality of the antitumor immune response in treated animals.

The research findings will be presented at national and international scientific conferences
sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, The American Institute for Cancer Research, and the International Society for the Biological Therapy of Cancer. In addition, Dr. Akporiaye expects to publish the research findings in a peer-reviewed Cancer journal in 2009.

Dr. Akporiaye has contributed to a number of major publications, was awarded the Dr. Martin Luther King Distinguished Leadership Award in 2003, received the Dean's List for Excellence in Teaching in the Basic Sciences in 2000 and 2001 and the Vernon and Virginia Furrow Award for Excellence in Basic Science Teaching for Medical Students in 2007 at the University of Arizona. He was the Mini-Symposium Co-Chair at the 97th Annual Conference of the American Association for Cancer Research in 2006.