Aloha! You are receiving this newsletter as a valued member of the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center ʻohana. If you have story ideas or questions, please email [email protected]. Mahalo for your support!

Tsuha Hawai‘i Aloha has provided $100,000 toward the nearly $250,000 endowment for the Susan C. Hirano Cancer C.A.R.E. Community. From left: Wallace Tsuha, of Tsuha Hawai‘i Aloha; Dr. Naoto T. Ueno, Director of the UH Cancer Center; Peter Hirano, husband of the late program founder Susan Hirano; Trevor Hirano, Peter and Susan Hirano’s son; and Charlyn Honda Masini, of Tsuha Hawai‘i Aloha.

A new endowment totalling nearly $250,000 has been established to sustain the Susan C. Hirano Cancer CARE Community, a patient empowerment and support program begun in April at the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center. Founded by the late Honolulu resident Susan Hirano, a cancer “thriver” and a Hope Ambassador for the center, the program provides quarterly workshops and other services to uplift cancer patients and survivors, caregivers, and families. Mahalo to Susan Hirano’s husband, Peter Hirano; Tsuha Hawaiʻi Aloha; the Servco Foundation; and other family members and friends of Susan, whose contributions launched the endowment. “Expanding patient care and support is important to the UH Cancer Center, especially as we prepare to welcome patients into our Ho‘ōla Early Phase Clinical Research Center in 2026,” said center Director Naoto T. Ueno. “Susan was a beloved friend to many at our center, and her legacy will continue to touch thousands of people in our community through this program and this endowment.” Click here to learn more, and donate.

The critical work and exciting growth of the UH Cancer Center continue to attract increased positive coverage from major media in TV, digital, print and radio — and there is more to come! Click the titles below to view a sampling of the dozens of recent news stories:

• University of Hawai‘i magazine, “Fighting Cancer, Serving Community” (pages 18-19)
• Hawaii News Now, “UH Cancer Center announces $250K endowment for patient empowerment and support program”
• Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “UH Cancer Center launches endowment to support patients”
• Civil Beat, “Breast Cancer In Hawaiʻi: Some Women Are Diagnosed Too Late”
• Island Scene (publication of HMSA), “Ho‘ōla center: early help in the cancer battle” (page 44)
• Pitt Med, “Expert. Survivor: Naoto Ueno”
• Hawai‘i Public Radio, “Medical research helps build a hula community for breast cancer survivors”

You are invited to explore the science behind mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, as well as some benefits for individuals diagnosed with cancer, at the next session of the Susan C. Hirano Cancer CARE Community, 9-11 a.m. July 26 at our Sullivan Conference Center. UH Cancer Center Associate Researcher Dr. Erin O'Carroll Bantum, and retired radiation oncologist Thanh Huynh, MD, will discuss how mindfulness brings awareness to the present moment without judgement, and its significant benefits, and will lead two guided practice sessions. Deadline to sign up is July 18. Click here for more information, and registration.

A new study featuring four University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center researchers says it’s never too late to start eating smarter, especially for your brain. The study found that people who followed a brain-healthy diet called the MIND diet were significantly less likely to develop dementia, even if they made changes later in life. UH Cancer Center researchers Song-Yi Park, Lynne R. Wilkens, Loїc Le Marchand and Unhee Lim were among the authors of the study, which is based on data from 93,000 people in the Multiethnic Cohort, a landmark study co-led by the UH Cancer Center. Read more in our Newsroom on UHCancerCenter.org.

A new national group called United for Cures has launched a patient advocacy campaign calling on Congress to “support the research that has resulted in safe and effective treatments and breakthrough cures.” The group says a proposed $18 billion in federal cuts to medical research, lifesaving treatments and cures for diseases will put millions of Americans at risk. Visit unitedforcures.org to learn more.

There’s still time to sign up for the Hawaii Oral Cancer Walk 2025, a fundraising and awareness event on July 19 on the grounds of the UH Cancer Center, organized by the Oral Cancer Foundation. The deadline to sign up is 3 p.m. July 18. On walk day, check in at the Sullivan Conference Center starts at 7:30 a.m., and the walk begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 11:30 a.m. For more information and to register, click here.

This UH News Image of the Week was photographed by our own UH Cancer Center Director of Communications Esme M. Infante. She said she happened to stroll outside the center near sunset and got lucky with the timing of the weather and lighting. Her caption: “A brilliant ānuenue (rainbow) unfurls over the Kakaʻako campus of UH, beheld by ‘eyes’ on the UH Cancer Center’s Makawalu Vortex statue.” Click here to view full photo.

Hawaii Oral Cancer Walk
Saturday July 19 | 7:30 a.m. check in; walk begins at 8 a.m.
Sullivan Conference Center
Click here for more information and to register.

'Mindfulness & Meditation' — a Susan C. Hirano Cancer CARE Community patient-support event
Saturday, July 26 | 9-11 a.m.
Sullivan Conference Center
Click here for more information and to register

West Hawai‘i Cancer Symposium
September 5-6
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Kailua-Kona
Only waiting list available
Follow this link, and fill out the form at bottom of page.

JOB BOARD

Graduate Assistant - Intelligent Molecular Discovery Laboratory

Professor - Ho‘ōla Early Phase Clinical Research Center Director

WELCOME TO THE UH CANCER CENTER

Particulate matter and their interaction of physical activity on ovarian cancer survival: A prospective cohort study. Zhang YY, Li Y, Luan M, Liu JM, Chen RJ, Cao F, Xu HL, Wu L, Huang DH, Li XY, Xiao Q, Ni S, Meng X, Gong TT, Wu QJ. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2025 Jun 15;298:118275.

Proteogenomic and observational evidence implicate ANGPTL4 as a potential therapeutic target for colorectal cancer prevention. Yarmolinsky J, Lee MA, Lau E, Moratalla-Navarro F, Vincent EE, Li-Gao R, Rensen PCN, Willems van Dijk K, Tsilidis KK, Sangphukieo A, Ebrahimi E, Hampe J, Le Marchand L, van Duijnhoven FJB, Visvanathan K, Woods MO, Guevara M, Sieri S, Masala G, Papier K, Virani S, Dudding T, Dehghan A, Smith AG, Wang D, Moreno V, Gunter MJ, Tzoulaki I. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2025 Jun 13:djaf137.

Paving the path ForwARd: Advances and challenges in androgen receptor targeting in breast cancer. Sridhar N, Iwase T, Xie X, Lee J, Damodaran S, Ueno NT. Cancer Treat Rev. 2025 Jul;138:102958

Iron and selenium: At the crossroads of development and death in oligodendrocytes. Ma C, Wurlitzer K, Nunes LGA, Hoffmann PR, Pitts MW. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2025 Jun 13;771:110509. 

Performance of the Oncuria-Detect bladder cancer test for evaluating patients presenting with haematuria: results from a real-world clinical setting. Pagano I, Zhang Z, Luu M, Tikhonenkov S, Le Calvez-Kelm F, Goodison S, Sakatani T, Murakami K, Kobayashi T, Avogbe P, Kim H, Lee R, Manel A, Vian E, Rosser CJ, Furuya H. J Transl Med. 2025 Jun 18;23(1):680. 

Prospective association of a Lifestyle Risk Factor Index with type 2 diabetes in the Multiethnic Cohort. Jacobs S, Klapp R, Shvetsov YB, Kristal BS, Setiawan VW, Le Marchand L, Maskarinec G. Eur J Nutr. 2025 Jun 16;64(5):222. 

Transgender and other gender minoritised assigned female at birth young adults' perceptions of and experiences with human papillomavirus vaccination. Rhodes A, Ahmadi T, Gordon AR, Murchison GR, Fontenot HB, Potter J, Agénor M. Cult Health Sex. 2025 Jun 24:1-16. 

The impact of community-based childhood obesity prevention interventions in Australia by socio-economic position: An individual participant data meta-analysis. Jacobs J, Backholer K, Allender S, Brown V, Orellana L, Novotny R, Wolfenden L, Moodie M, Nichols M. Pediatr Obes. 2025 Jun 19:e70031. 

A selenomethionine deficient, high-fructose diet does not lead to cardiometabolic disorder in the selenocysteine lyase knockout mice. Shimada BK, Apo Takayama NK, Hallam KA, Pjd S, Yew JY, Alfulaij N, Nakahara-Akita K, Soares AG, Berry MJ, Seale LA. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2025 Jun 18;90:127685. 

Validation of the predictive ability for recurrence and the clinical utility of the 95-gene classifier (95GC) through an integrated analysis of five studies. Imai A, Tsunashima R, Hidaka Y, Kitano S, Kato C, Watanabe A, Morita M, Sakaguchi K, Sota Y, Suzuki M, Kinoshita T, Imanishi S, Oikawa M, Kamada Y, Ito KI, Oba T, Takayama S, Tsukamoto F, Takahashi M, Hatanaka Y, Ueno NT, Shimazu K, Morita S, Naoi Y. Breast Cancer. 2025 Jun 25. 

Inflammatory breast cancer, best practice in the community setting. NPJ Breast Cancer. Takahashi Y, Sridhar N, Iwase T, Marumoto A, Fukui J, Pradhan A, Cheng YC, Ueno NT, 2025 Jun 7;11(1):52.

Biologically active withanolides from Physalis peruviana. Sang-Ngern M, Fukuchi A, Kondratyuk TP, Park EJ, Simmons CJ, Wall MM, Lorch SE, Pezzuto JM, Chang LC. Pharm Biol. 2025 Dec;63(1):334-343. 

Genome-wide association study for lung cancer in 6531 African Americans reveals new susceptibility loci. Byun J, Han Y, … Le Marchand L, Liu G, Andrew AS, Zienolddiny S, Grankvist K, Johansson M, Caporaso N, Taylor F, Lazarus P, Schabath MB, Aldrich MC, Patel A, Lin X, Zanetti KA, Harris CC, Chanock S, McKay J, Schwartz AG, Hung RJ, Amos CI; INTEGRAL-ILCCO Consortium. Hum Mol Genet. 2025 Jul 3;34(14):1227-1237. 

Extracellular regucalcin reveals anti-cancer activity by suppressing cell growth and metastatic activity by blocking EGF signaling pathway in human glioblastoma cells in vitro. Yamaguchi M, Shimokawa N, Murata T. Cell Signal. 2025 Aug;132:111844. 

Clinical and Pathologic Phenotyping of mesotheliomas developing in carriers of Germline BAP1 Mutations. Carbone M, Minaai M, Kittaneh M, Krausz T, Miettinen MM, Hammarström QP, Hammarström L, Abolhassani H, Pagano I, Xu R, Novelli F, Gaudino G, Pastorino S, Sarin KY, Ripley RT, Pass HI, Schrump DS, Yang H. J Thorac Oncol. 2025 Jun 27:S1556-0864(25)00808-1. 

Diet, Activity and Sleep Clusters Associated With Obesity Markers of Children in the US-Affiliated Pacific. Dumuid D, Yamanaka AB, Chong KH, Okely AD, Wilkens LR, Shvetsov YB, Lozano CP, Novotny R. Acta Paediatr. 2025 Jul;114(7):1642-1652. 

Clinical benefits of self-guided mindfulness coach mobile app use for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: A pilot randomized control trial. Wielgosz J, Walser RD, Kuhn E, Chang A, Bantum EO, Pagano I, Jaworski BK, Taylor K, Ramsey KM, Owen JE. Psychol Trauma. 2025 Jul;17(5):1117-1126. 

Bioactive constituents from the edible seaweed Halymenia hawaiiana (Rhodophyta). Raksat A, Atanu MSH, McDermid KJ, Wall MM, Chang BL, Wongwiwatthananukit S, Chang LC. Pharm Biol. 2025 Dec;63(1):447-459. 

GWAS meta-analysis identifies five susceptibility loci for endometrial cancer. Ramachandran D, Wang X, … Yu H, Zheng W, Spurdle AB, Yarden Y; Estonian Biobank Research Team; Mägi R, Hillemanns P, Glubb DM, Dörk T, O'Mara TA. EBioMedicine. 2025 Jul 8;118:105830. 

Epigenetic age and accelerated aging phenotypes: a tumor biomarker for predicting colorectal cancer. Jung SY, Pellegrini M, Tan X, Yu H. Aging (Albany NY). 2025 Jul 7;17. 

Validation of the predictive ability for recurrence and the clinical utility of the 95-gene classifier (95GC) through an integrated analysis of five studies. Imai A, Tsunashima R, Hidaka Y, Kitano S, Kato C, Watanabe A, Morita M, Sakaguchi K, Sota Y, Suzuki M, Kinoshita T, Imanishi S, Oikawa M, Kamada Y, Ito KI, Oba T, Takayama S, Tsukamoto F, Takahashi M, Hatanaka Y, Ueno NT, Shimazu K, Morita S, Naoi Y. Breast Cancer. 2025 Jun 25. 

Environmental Risk Factors for Liver Cancer. McGlynn KA, Watling CZ, Hernandez BY, Groopman JD. Hepatology. 2025 Jul 7

The effects of the potent antioxidant 3,5-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzyl alcohol on mutagenicity in microorganisms and chromosomal aberrations in cultured mammalian cells in vitro. Watanabe M, Yoshiike K, Watanabe H, Yamaguchi M. Food Chem Toxicol. 2025 Jul 3;204:115619.  

Thank you for reading Ola Hou. If you wish to unsubscribe, please send us an email by clicking here.  We also welcome your feedback at [email protected]. Mahalo for your support of the UH Cancer Center!

©️ 2025 University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center

701 Ilalo St.

Honolulu, HI 96813

uhcancercenter.org