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Richard Kremer , MD, Ph.D., FRCPC. Professor, Department of Medicine Senior Scientist Member, Division of Experimental Medicine Tel: 514 934-1934 ext. 31632 richard.kremer [at] mcgill.ca |
Biographical Sketch
Richard Kremer is Professor of Medicine at McGill University and Senior Physician in the Endocrine Division of the Department of Medicine of the McGill University Health Centre(MUHC).He is the past co-leader of the Musculoskeletal Axis of the MUHC where he held that position for 17 years. Born in Paris, he received his MD and Ph.D. Degrees at the Pierre et Marie Curie University of Paris. Formally trained in Endocrinology and Laboratory Medicine, Dr. Kremer’s expertise has led to his appointment as Director of the Bone and Mineral Unit (Department of Medicine) and the Academic Director of the Division of Medical Biochemistry at McGill University. He is the past co-Leader of the Musculoskeletal Axis of the MUHC Research Institute where he held that position for 17 years. Dr. Kremer is the recipient of several prizes and awards, including the Chercheur National Award from the Fonds de Recherches en Santé du Québec. He is the co-founder of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) Bone Strength Working Group and has made significant contributions to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Cancer Research Institute (NCI) on grant and award committees as Chair, Scientific Officer, and elected member.
Keywords
Vitamin D, PTHrP, osteoporosis, bone strength, animal models, breast cancer, circulating tumor cells, liquid biopsy, translational research, skeletal metastasis, bone, and mineral metabolism
Research or Clinical Activities
Dr Kremer’s research has focused on the role of calcium regulating hormones in health and disease and has three main research programs. The first research program aims to elucidate how 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, the active form of vitamin D, influences cell growth and differentiation in the skeleton and in cancer cells. He discovered that a lack of vitamin D results in fat accumulation in bone and muscle and leads to the accelerated development of breast cancer. An extension of these studies is to expand new therapeutic strategies with vitamin D derivatives in osteoporosis and in cancer. The second research program aims to establish the role of the parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) in tumor initiation, growth, and metastasis. This has led to developing a novel patented targeted therapy against breast and pancreatic cancer using monoclonal antibodies raised against PTHrP. In collaboration with colleagues in the United States, the most sensitive immunoassay of PTHrP ever reported was developed and is currently investigated as a potential prognostic biomarker of metastasis. The third and most recent research program aims to elucidate the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer progression and to identify specific markers of skeletal metastasis in breast and prostate cancer through liquid biopsy. A patented method was developed to obtain large amounts of CTCs, enabling in-depth characterization. As a result of our R&D,Drs Kremer and Mihalcioiu established in 2018 the RI-MUHC’s Liquid Biopsy Centre (https://www.muhcliquidbiopsy.ca/), where this technology is currently in use.
Selected Recent Publications
Li J, Camirand A, Zakikhani M, Sellin K, Guo Y, Luan X, Mihalcioiu C, Kremer R. Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein Inhibition Blocks Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Expansion in Bone Through Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition Reversal. JBMR Plus. 2022 Apr 14;6(6): e10587.
Beltran-Bless A, Murshed M, Zakikhani M, Kuchuk I, Bouganim N, Robertson S, Kekre N, Vandermeer L, Li J, Addison CL, Rauch F, Clemons M, Kremer R. Histomorphometric and microarchitectural analysis of bone in metastatic breast cancer patients. Bone Rep. 2021 Oct 22; 15:101145.
Li J, Luco AL, Camirand A, St-Arnaud R, Kremer R. Vitamin D Regulates CXCL12/CXCR4 and Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in a Model of Breast Cancer Metastasis to Lung. Endocrinology. 2021 Jul 1;162(7): bqab049.
Pitarresi JR, Norgard RJ, Chiarella AM, Suzuki K, Bakir B, Sahu V, Li J, Zhao J, Marchand B, Wengyn MD, Hsieh A, Kim IK, Zhang A, Sellin K, Lee V, Takano S, Miyahara Y, Ohtsuka M, Maitra A, Notta F, Kremer R, Stanger BZ, Rustgi AK. PTHrP Drives Pancreatic Cancer Growth and Metastasis and Reveals a New Therapeutic Vulnerability. Cancer Discov. 2021 Jul;11(7):1774-1791.
Assaker G, Camirand A, Abdulkarim B, Omeroglu A, Deschenes J, Joseph K, Noman ASM, Ramana Kumar AV, Kremer R, Sabri S. PTHrP, A Biomarker for CNS Metastasis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer and Selection for Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Node-Negative Disease. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2019 Aug 29;4(1): pkz063.