Epidemiology & Biostatistics // Epidemiology

Irene Orlow, PhD

Associate Attending Biologist
Office Phone:
212-639-3072
Office Fax:
212-717-3666
Education:
University of Buenos Aires

Current Research Interests/Research Goals

Dr. Orlow leads the Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory and collaborates with other investigators of the Epidemiology Service. Her research focuses on the identification of host and tumor characteristics that affect cancer risk. She is engaged in studies to determine the effect of DNA damage/repair capacity in the recurrence of bladder cancer in collaboration with Dr. Donat (Urology Service- MSKCC). She also investigates DNA damage/repair capacity and genetic characteristics that predispose individuals to develop multiple lung tumors, or that predispose healthy non-smokers to develop lung cancer. These studies are conducted in collaboration with members of the Thoracic Disease Management Team-MSKCC. She and Dr. Begg are engaged in the evaluation of the clonal origin in multiple tumors with the ultimate goal of improving current diagnostic methods. With members of the Prevention, Control and Population Research Program (Dr. Ahles), she is assessing the impact of variants in genes in the DNA damage/repair pathway on neurocognitive function in patients with breast cancer. With Dr. Correa (Neurology Department-MSKCC), she will examine genetic characteristics in relation to cognitive function in patients treated with radiation. As part of the Melanoma Disease Management Program she helped build and maintains a collection of biospecimens from patients with melanoma as a resource for epidemiologic and longitudinal studies to assess risk for development and progression of the disease. Further collaborations with the international GEM team that investigates the epidemiology of multiple primary melanoma include the testing of VDR gene polymorphisms, and of chemokine receptor gene SNPs and their role as modifiers of patients' survival. Dr. Orlow directs the National Colonoscopy Study Repository, and the lab itself serves as biorepository for other large epidemiologic studies including GEM, EDGE, and WECARE.

Publications by Irene Orlow

Selected Bibliography

  1. Pomerantz J, Schreiber-Agus N, Liegeois NJ, Silverman A, Alland L, Chin L, Potes J, Chen K, Orlow I, Lee HW, Cordon-Cardo C, De Pinho RA. “The Ink4a tumor suppressor gene product, p19Arf, interacts with MDM2 and neutralizes MDM2's inhibition of p53”. Cell 1998;92:713-23. [PubMed Abstract]
  2. Orlow I, Drobnjak M, Zhang Z-F, Lewis J, Woodruff JM, Brennan MF, Cordon-Cardo C. “Alterations of the INK4A and INK4B Genes in Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Effect on Survival”. J Natl Cancer Inst 1999;91:73-79. [PubMed Abstract]
  3. Berwick M, Orlow I, Hummer AJ, Armstrong BK, Kricker A, Marrett LD, Millikan RC, Gruber SB, Anton-Culver H, Zanetti R, Gallagher RP, Dwyer T, Rebbeck T, Kanetsky PA, Busam K, From L, Mujumdar U, Wilcox H and Begg CB. The Prevalence of CDKN2A Germline Mutations and Relative Risk for Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma: An International Population-Based Study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev.; 15:1520-5, 2006. [PubMed Abstract]
  4. Orlow I, Park BJ, Mujumdar U, Patel H, Siu-Lau P, Clas BA, Downey R, Flores R, Bains M, Rizk N, Dominguez G, Jani J, Berwick M, Begg CB, Kris MG, Rusch VW. DNA damage and repair capacity in lung cancer patients: Prediction of multiple primary tumors. J Clin Oncol 26:3560-3566, 2008.[PubMed Abstract]
  5. Orlow I, Tommasi D, Bloom B, Ostrovnaya I, Cotignola J, Mujumdar U, Busam KJ, Jungbluth A, Scolyer RA, Thompson JF, Armstrong BK, Berwick M, Thomas NE, Begg CB. Evaluation of the clonal origin of multiple primary melanomas using molecular profiling. J Invest Dermatol. 2009 129:1972-1982.[PubMed Abstract]

My Projects