Contact Information:
Laura A. Kresty
Assistant Professor
Cancer Chemoprevention Program
Division of Hematology & Oncology
Department of Internal Medicine
302B CCC Building
410 W 12TH AVE
Columbus, OH 43210
Office Phone: 614-688-7787
Cell Phone: 614-202-0521
FAX: 614-293-4072
E-mail: kresty.1@osu.edu
Research Interests:
The focus of my research is cancer chemoprevention of aerodigestive tract lesions. It has
been estimated that 35% of cancer deaths could be prevented through dietary
modifications. This in turn has sparked interest in assessing the role of both specific
foods and food-based bioactive components as cancer chemopreventive agents. My
interests are in identifying and evaluating potential inhibitors utilizing in vitro assays,
employing clinically relevant in vivo models to study carcinogenesis, and translating the
evaluation of promising agents into phase I and phase II trials in high risk human cohorts.
Currently we are evaluating both natural and some synthetically produced agents
including: freeze-dried black raspberries in Barrett’s esophagus patients; cranberry
proanthocyanidins, strawberry and black raspberry extracts, a licorice extract,
isothiocyanates, and a number of histone deacetylase inhibitors utilizing in vitro assays;
and we are working in a hamster respiratory tract model to evaluate the chemopreventive
potential of indole 3-carbinol, anethole dithiolethione, and the polyamine difluoromethylornithine. We are also working on novel imaging technologies to detect
early epithelial and sub-epithelial changes for more rapid evaluation of chemopreventive
agents. Lastly, we are interested in investigating the link between obesity and cancer,
specifically esophageal adenocarcinoma.