Newsletter IN THIS ISSUE NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS HIMA SAN PABLO. Capacity Building In Community. Evidence Based Practices. Scientific Highlight

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1 March 2017 Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium Newsletter IN THIS ISSUE Page 2 Capacity Building In Community Page 4 Evidence Based Practices Page 6 Scientific Highlight Page 7 Annoucement NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS HIMA SAN PABLO From HIMASan Pablo, Executive Vice-President Ms. Heidi Rodriguez, Clinical Research Director Dr. Irma Y. Estrada, and Executive Vice-President Mr. Armando Rodriguez The Hospitales HIMASan Pablo s Office of Clinical Research was recognized in April 2017 by the Puerto Rico Consortium for Clinical Investigation (PRCCI) for being its first member site with an awarded and completed clinical study: Serum Collection From Patients with Antibodies Reactive with Zika Virus. The study was conducted by Principal Investigator, Dr. Diana M. Otero-Castro and Study Coordinator Ms. Zoraida M. Del Valle. Hospitales HIMASan Pablo are grateful to have our Public Health Educator and Community Outreach Coordinator, Ms. Maricarmen Ramirez-Sola, MPHE, selected as a student at PRCTRC s "The Art of Grantsmanship: A Hands-On, Intensive Workshop". The Office of Clinical Research is proud of her and supportive of her research interests in breast cancer survivorship care, with mentor Wilfredo E. De Jesus-Monge, MD, MSc, Chief of Clinical Research. Ms. Maricarmen Ramirez-Sola, MPHE

2 Workshop for Capacity Building in Community Research Engagement 2 Ms. Frances Hernández facilitating sub-group activity March 1 st 2017, PRCTRC s Community Research Core (OCRE) designed and conducted a half-day workshop in collaboration with Puerto Rico IDeA Network Biomedical Research Excellence (PR- INBRE) The Universidad del Turabo hosted the gathering of 18 participants (faculty= 11; 61.1% and students graduate= 7; 38.9%). Some of the institutions represented were: Universidad del Turabo, San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, and Universidad Carlos Albizu. Dr. Edna Acosta Pérez and Ms.Frances Hernandez Rodríguez facilitated the workshop, which integrated theoretical and practical hands on exercises. This activity is part of a broader effort to increase capacity in Community Engagement Research and Community Academic Partnerships among Puerto Rico researchers and community leaders. In summary topics included a brief on general aspects of why and how to begin a collaboration in research with community partners, a description of the necessary steps to begin a community academic partnership or collaboration, and strategies to build a community based participatory research project together. Workshop content was based on two web available tools: A Toolkit for Academic- Community Partnerships in preparation for Community-Based Participatory Research (Andrews et al., 2012) and Principles of Community Engagement (CTSA, 2011). The workshop aimed to facilitate participants used of the tool kit in order to get involved with the process of engaging with partners to evaluate the fit, the capacity and the operations necessary to plan, implement, evaluate, and disseminate CBPR projects (Andrews et al., 2010). The goal is to improve capacity among researchers and communities to facilitate mutual growth of the collaborations or partnerships and positively influence targeted social and health needs in the community, particularly health disparities needs. The following resources are available 2

3 Vol. 5 Num. 1 March INBRE s Evaluation Core conducted the evaluation of this activity and as part of the findings participants were very satisfied or satisfied about the overall seminar (100%), organization of the seminar (70%), and timeframe of the seminar (70%), speaker expertise (100%). Participants Comments and Recommendations included: Excellent Follow Up could be favorable if a proposal development workshop is provided for ONG s I recommend not take for granted that all professor knew how to collaborate with the community promote this work [activity] for more to come REFERENCES: Andrews, Newman, Cox & Meadows (2012). Are We Ready? A Toolkit for Academic-Community Partnerships in preparation for Community-Based Participatory Research. programs/community_engagement/documents/sctr%20cchp%20are%20we%20ready%20toolkit.pdf Andrews JO, Meadows O, Newman S, Cox M, Bunting S. Partnership readiness for community based participatory research. Health Edu & Beh 2010; Sep 13 CTSA Community Engagement Key Function Committee Task Force on the Principles of Community Engagement (Second Edition) (2011). nish.pdf 3

4 Workshop on Evidence Based Practices and Program Development 4 In collaboration with PRCTRC s Community Research Core (OCRE), on April 28 th, the Puerto Rico Evidence Based Work Group (EBW) offered a capacity building opportunity to five Community Based Organizations and one agency. The focus was on Evidence Based Practices (EBP) and Program Development. As part of the capacity building activity attendants were able to: a) define what an Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is, b) differentiate between program vs. service, c) learn main characteristics of effective programs, d) learn about the Program Development Model, e) determine organizational needs and resources for program development, and f) understand the process of submitting interventions to the Evidence Based Digital Archive The EBW defined EBP as the integration of best practices recognized by research, experts knowledge, and participants culture, values, views and characteristics of the participants. Drs. Marizaida Sánchez Cesário, Betzaida Sánchez, Coralee Pérez Pedrogo, and Lili M. Sardiñas facilitated training to participants, which integrated theoretical and practical hands on exercises. This activity is part of a broader effort to increase capacity in Program Development, Evidence Based Practices and Community Engagement Research in prevention topics among Puerto Rico s researchers and community leaders. The ultimate goal of the EBW is to facilitate access of information to both professionals and community members interested in developing and implementing successful interventions in our country. 4

5 5 Facilitators discussed the DCS Program Development Model developed by the Community Service Division of the Center for Evaluation and Sociomedical Research in order to help organizations identify how they can implement this model at their setting. Study cases were discussed to evidence how the model can be implemented in real settings in Puerto Rico. Benefits and challenges of program development were also discussed. For more information and have access to tools discussed in the training please visit the following links: Archive of Evidence Based Practices: How to select and Evidence Based practice and other tools: Evidence Based Board of Puerto Rico: 5

6 Targeting mir-21-3p inhibits proliferation and invasion of ovarian cancer cells Institution: University of Puerto Rico-Medical Science Campus PI Name: Vivas-Mejia, Pablo E., Ph.D. 6 Scientific Highlights/Science Advances Background: MicroRNAs (mirnas) are endogenously expressed small non-coding RNAs (nc-rna) that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. MiR-21 (mir-21-5p), one of the best studied mirnas, is overexpressed in most cancers and displays oncogenic activity. The role of mir-21 (mir-21-5p) has been amply studied in several types of cancer, and it has been proposed as an oncogene. Aberrantly increased levels of mir-21-5p have been associated with cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. In ovarian cancer, increased levels of mir-21-5p have also been associated with cisplatin resistance. However, the role of the mir-21 passenger strand (mir-21-3p) in the proliferation, invasion, and drug resistance of ovarian cancer cells has not been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of mir-21-3p and its target genes in drug resistant ovarian cancer cells. Advance: Study results show that mir-21-5p had higher expression levels compared to mir-21-3p on a panel of cancer cells. Moreover, inhibition of mir-21-5p or mir-21-3p resulted in a significant decrease in ovarian and prostate cancer cell proliferation and invasion. This supports that mir-21-3p, the passenger strand of pre-mir-21, has an important role in cell proliferation, invasion, and drug resistance of ovarian cancer cells. In addition, RNA Binding Protein with Multiple Splicing (RBPMS), Regulator of Chromosome Condensation and POZ Domain Containing Protein 1 (RCBTB1), and Zinc Finger protein 608 (ZNF608) as targets of mir-21-3p in cisplatinresistant ovarian cancer cells were identified. SiRNA-induced RBPMS silencing reduced the sensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin treatment. Immunohistochemical analyses of serous ovarian cancer patient samples suggest a significant decrease of RBMPS levels when compared to normal ovarian epithelium. Taken together, the data generated in this study suggests a functional role for mir-21-3p in ovarian cancer and other solid tumors. How NIMHD Grant Enabled Advance: The Scientific Writing Unit and Resources and Pilot Project Program from the PRCTRC supported this study. Public Health Impact Statement: This study showed that inhibiting mir-21-3p in ovarian and prostate cancer cells induced similar effects, or even more pronounced effects, than the inhibition of mir-21-5p. Although the role of mir-21-3p target genes in ovarian cancer remains to be elucidated, prior reports and this study findings support the hypothesis that both strands of the pre-mir-21, mir-21-5p and mir-21-3p, promote cancer growth by regulating their own target genes. Further studies are needed to investigate the biological role of the mir-21-3p target genes in ovarian cancer and other solid tumors. Grant Support (all grant numbers): U54MD007587; 5K22CA ; R25-GM Publication Citation and Link: Báez-Vega, P. M., Vargas, I. M. E., Valiyeva, F., Encarnación-Rosado, J., Roman, A., Flores, J., & Vivas-Mejía, P. E. (2016). Targeting mir-21-3p inhibits proliferation and invasion of ovarian cancer cells. Oncotarget, 7(24), PMID: PMCID: PMC

7 Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium Scientific Day Clinical & Translational Research From: Learning to Action Date: June 2 nd, :30am-2:00pm Place: Jaime Benítez Rexach Amphitheater and School of Pharmacy, University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus Speakers Valerie Wojna-Muñiz, MD David Chambers, DPhil UPR- Medical Sciences Campus National Cancer Institute Clinical & Translational Research: From Learning to Action Dissemination & Implementation Research: An NIH Perspective" Free Registration Deadline: May 26, 2017 *Parking Reimburse* This activity is sponsored by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (2U54MD007587). For more information, please call at ext.221 or prctrc.rcm@upr.edu. 7