Faculty
Jennifer M. Specht, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of
Medicine
University of Washington
Mailing Address
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
825 Eastlake Ave E
Seattle, WA 98109
Admin Contact
Katie Fitzmaurice
206.288.6989
kfitzmau@seattlecca.org
Fax: 206.288.2054
Specialty / Expertise
Breast Cancer
Research Interests
- Molecular Imaging with FDG PET and DCE-MRI to understand in vivo biology of locally-advanced and inflammatory breast cancer
- Triple-negative (ER, PR, and HER2 negative) breast cancer
Current Research Projects
Title: DCE-MRI and FDG PET with Kinetic Analysis to Monitor Breast Cancer Response to Neoadjuvant Sunitinib and Metronomic Chemotherapy
Funding Source: National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
The correlative imaging studies for this companion proposal to Pfizer IIR #GA9000S1 will evaluate dynamic FDG-PET with kinetic analysis and DCE-MRI with semi-quantitative parametric image analysis to measure breast cancer response to neoadjuvant therapy.
Title: A Phase II Study Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Sunitinib Maleate in Combination with Weekly Paclitaxel Followed by Doxorubicin and Daily Oral Cyclophosphamide Plus G-CSF as Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced or Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Funding Source: Pfizer
The objective of this phase II clinical trial is to assess the safety and efficacy of sunitinib maleate in combination with weekly paclitaxel followed by weekly doxorubicin and daily oral cyclophosphamide plus G-CSF as neoadjuvant therapy for patients with LABC or inflammatory breast cancer.
Title: Combined Targeted Therapies for Triple Negative Advanced Breast Cancer: A Phase II Trial of Weekly Nab-Paclitaxel and Bevacizumab Followed by Maintenance Targeted Therapy with Bevacizumab and Erlotinib
Funding Source: Genentech and Veridex, LLC
The primary endpoint will be time to disease progression with secondary endpoints to include response rate, overall survival, safety and toxicity, and correlation of response with EGFR over-expression in the primary tumor, changes in levels of circulating tumor cells, and circulating endothelial cells as potential predictors of treatment response.
Title: Functional Imaging of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Response to Systemic Therapy. A Companion Trial to: A Phase II Trial of Weekly Nab-Paclitaxel and Bevacizumab Followed by Maintenance Targeted Therapy with Bevacizumab and Erlotinib
Funding Source: Kuni Foundation
The goal of this proposal is to use imaging scans (FDG PET and MRI) and tissue markers to help understand the biology of TN tumors and to determine which tumors and patients will respond to therapy directed at EGFR and VEGF. Role: Primary Investigator
Training
Dr. Specht received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, WA and her MD from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. She trained in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Rosenberg at NIH, Surgery Branch in tumor immunotherapy as Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Medical Oncology Fellowship at the University of Washington, and joined the faculty in 2006.
Selected Publications
Specht JM, Kurland BF, Montgomery S, Dunnwald L, Doot R, Gralow JR, Ellis GK, Linden HM, Livingston RB, Allison K, Schubert E, Mankoff DA. Tumor metabolism and blood flow as assessed by PET varies by tumor subtype in locally advanced breast cancer. Clin Cancer Res May 15, 2010 16:2803-2810.
Mankoff DA, Specht JM, Dunnwald LK, Partridge S. Blood Flow-Metabolism Mismatch: Good for the Tumor, Bad for the Patient. Clinical Cancer Research. 15(17): 5511-7. September 2009.
Dunnwald LK, Doot RK, Specht JM, Gralow JR, Ellis GK, Livingston RB, Linden HM, Gadi VK, Kurland BF, Schubert EK, Muzi M, Mankoff DA. PET tumor metabolism in locally advanced breast cancer patients: predicting outcomes after neoadjucant chemotherapy by kinetic analysis of FDG PET. J Nucl Med. May 2009; 50, Supplement 2: 7P.
Dunnwald LK, Grawlow JR, Ellis GK, Livinston RB, Linden HM, Specht JM, Doot RK, Lawton TJ, Barlow WE, Kurland BF, Schubert EK, Mankoff DA. Tumor metabolism and blood flow changes by positron emission tomography: Relation to survival in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced breast cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 20:26(27): 4449-57.September 2008.
Specht JM, Tam SL, Kurland BF, Gralow JR, Livingston RL, Linden HM, Ellis GK, Schubert EK, Dunnwald LK, Mankoff DA. Serial 2-[18F] fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) to monitor treatment of bone-dominant metastatic breast cancer predicts time to progression (TTP). Breast Cancer Res Treat 105(1):87-94, September 2007.
Specht JM, Wang G, Do MT, Lam JS, Royal RE, Reeves ME, Rosenberg SA, and Hwu P. Dendritic cells retrovirally transduced with a model tumor antigen gene are therapeutically effective against established pulmonary metastases. J Experimental Med 186:1213-21, 1997.
Last updated: June 2010