Cisplatin works by damaging the DNA in dividing cells, thus killing any rapidly dividing tumor cells. Yet, all cells make enzymes that protect against exactly this kind of genetic damage. In theory, patients with naturally high levels of the protective enzyme won't respond to cisplatin as readily as patients with lower levels of the enzyme, Garcia said. Eventually, doctors may be able to measure an individual patient's level of the protective enzyme, using this as a marker to guide treatment. In a separate study, Garcia is studying another potential marker.
Cells make a small molecule called tubulin that's critical to cell division and movement.
But there is a huge amount of natural variation between patients in the form of tubulin they make, a factor which may influence the outcome of treatment. Garcia attended college and medical school at Mexico City's Universidad Anahuac before attending an internal medicine residency at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Garcia focused his interest in gynecologic malignancies during a one-year training program at the University of Mississippi. At Norris, you have the option to do research and take care of patients. The city itself also drew him back to Norris.