Irit Ben-Aharon, MD, PhD
Project Title
In–utero chemotherapy during pregnancy- studying short- and long-term effects– from epigenetics to pathogenesis
About the Investigator
Prof. Ben-Aharon, Director of Fishman Oncology Center at Rambam Health Care Campus, had completed her PhD in developmental biology (Tel-Aviv University and the NIH for MD-PhD joint program). She is a medical oncologist specializes in gastrointestinal cancers and serves as the head of the EORTC task force of young-onset cancer. Her laboratory at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, focuses on treatment-related toxicities in young cancer patients, particularly effects on fertility and vascular biology, as well as the pathogenesis of early-onset GI cancers. Her current research emphasizes chemotherapy-induced vascular toxicity during pregnancy and its impact on the placenta and fetus.
About the Research
The prevalence of cancer diagnosed during pregnancy is on the rise in developed countries, due to delayed childbearing age and increase in cancer incidence among young adults. Pregnancy-associated cancer represents a unique clinical scenario, requiring a delicate balance between risks and benefits for the integrity of both mother and fetus. However, there is a paucity of data regarding strategies to reduce obstetrical and neonatal complications in pregnant cancer patients treated with chemotherapy, as well as a lack of tailored long-term medical follow-up for children exposed in utero. Over the past decade, Prof. Ben-Aharon has studied chemotherapy-induced gonadal and vascular toxicity, as a seed for future morbidity in cancer survivors. The hyper-vascular nature of the placenta has led her to study the mechanism of chemotherapy-induced placental toxicity from the gestational perspective and more recently fatal perspectives in a mouse model. Preliminary results indicate a latent cardiac toxicity manifested at late puberty and reduced gonadal reservoir. This research aims to further characterize the short and long-term effects on the heart and reproductive organs induced by in-utero exposure to chemotherapy, and to produce a characteristic signature of epigenetic changes from amniotic fluid to detect affected children. The preclinical study will be complemented by a clinical study in a cohort of children who were exposed to chemotherapy during pregnancy to follow for the epigenetic changes observed in the preclinical model and to study late-term morbidities. The research may allow superior care for the exposed offspring, as clinically implemented, and applied for pediatric cancer survivors.
