Millie Hughes-Fulford, PhD

Research Interests

Diet Intervention in Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Hughes-Fulford is exploring how diet may assist in the treatment of prostate cancer. She has conducted research on mice that indicates that a diet high in omega-6 fatty acids may increase the levels of proteins (cox-2 and cPLA2) responsible for increased prostate tumor growth. Moreover, she has shown that these proteins are inhibited by flurbiprofen. This suggests that an alternative cancer therapy to cox-2 inhibitors, that have cardiovascular complications, could possibly be developed.

In collaboration with June Chan, ScD, Hughes-Fulford is investigating the effect of dietary fatty acids on stage and growth of prostate cancer in human patients. The results from these studies will help in the development of dietary guidelines for future and current prostate cancer patients.

Loss of Immune Response in Space

Hughes-Fulford is also the only Veterans Affairs scientist-astronaut to have gone into space. She utilizes the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station to conduct T-cell research. The physical mechanisms by which the T-cell, an essential component of the immune system, responds to gravity are the focus of this research. Hughes-Fulford has identified the genes induced during a normal immune response and has shown that it is highly likely that zero gravity affects these genes to prevents T-cell activation. These studies advance our understanding of the human immune system in health and disease and give us insight into fundamental biological laws.

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