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| Mahesh A. Varia, M.D.
Professor |  |
Clinical Interests
Gynecologic Oncology, Neuro-Oncology, Stereotactic Radiosurgery,
High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy
Research Interests
Dr. Mahesh A. Varia is a radiation oncologist with research interests in gynecological oncology, brain tumors and tumor hypoxia. In his radiation oncology practice clinical trials and special procedures are offered in the management of gynecological oncology and brain tumor patients. These procedures include high dose rate and low dose rate brachytherapy, Intraoperative therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery for brain tumors and other intracranial lesions, and 3-D radiation treatment planning.
Gynecological Oncology. UNC is a full member of Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG). GOG is a National Cancer Institute sponsored national cooperative group of 40 university and over 120 hospitals that conducts clinical trials to advance the understanding of gynecological cancers and to improve treatment results. At UNC's multidisciplinary Gynecologic Oncology Program with Dr. Wesley Fowler, Chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Dr Varia directs the radiation oncology care of gynecological oncology patients and gynecological radiation oncology trials. Dr. Varia contributes to clinical research as Principal Investigator on some of the GOG's multicenter national clinical trials. He is the radiation oncology member of the Multidisciplinary Gynecologic Oncology program at UNC and is a member of the Radiation Oncology Committee and the Committee on Cancers of the Cervix of the GOG.
Brain tumors. Dr. Varia is Co-Director of the UNC Multidisciplinary Adult Brain Oncology Program, which provides comprehensive care and clinical trials for brain tumor patients. Dr. Varia is also the Co-Director of the UNC Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program in conjunction with Dr. Mathew Ewend in the UNC Division of Neurosurgery. The Stereotactic Program offers specialized non-invasive techniques in the treatment of intracranial arteriovenous malformations and selected benign and malignant brain tumors. UNC offers multi-modality image registration and 3-D conformal radiation therapy program for brain and pituitary tumors.
Tumor hypoxia (pO2 < 10 mm Hg). Dr. Varia and Dr. Raleigh in the Division of Molecular Radiobiology, Department of Radiation Oncology are conducting tumor hypoxia studies in human tumors. Pimonidazole is a 2-nitroimidazole drug developed by Dr. James Raleigh that selectively binds to hypoxic cells and can be detected by immunohistochemical assays. Dr. Varia holds the FDA Investigator IND for its use as a hypoxia marker in human tumors. Dr. Varia is the principal investigator of IRB approved Tumor Hypoxia Marker Studies using pimonidazole in patients with cervix, head and neck, and breast cancers, and other tumors at UNC.
Results from studies in the biology of tumor hypoxia demonstrate new avenues of research in the relationships between tumor hypoxia and tumor biology. Hypoxia is known to be associated with mortality in cardiovascular disease, and it has an important role in diabetes and alcoholic liver disease. Tumor hypoxia appears to adversely affect the results of cancer treatment. It is known that hypoxic cells are resistant to radiation therapy and to some chemotherapeutic agents. More recently, hypoxia has been recognized as a physiological stress at a cellular level leading to gene expression in normal and tumor tissue. These observations suggest an important role for tumor hypoxia in the malignant potential of cancer cells.
The general objective is to detect and quantify tumor hypoxia in human cancers using pimonidazole, explore the relationships between tumor hypoxia and tumor biology, correlate hypoxia with the presence of metastases and eventually to treatment outcome.
Training
University of Liverpool Medical School, United Kingdom M.B.Ch.B., (with Distinction in Obstetrics and Gynecology), 1967 Medicine
Board Certifications
Radiation Oncology 1976
Publications
Rogers L, Varia M, Halle J et al. P-32 Following Negative Second-Look Laparotomy For Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. Gynecol-Oncol 50:141-6, 1993.
Raleigh, J.A., Calkins-Adams, D.P., Rinker, L.H., Ballenger C. A., Weissler, M.C., Fowler, W.C., Novotny, D.B. and Varia, M.A. Hypoxia and vascular endothelial growth factor expression in human squamous cell carcinomas using pimonidazole as an immunohistochemical hypoxia marker. Cancer Res.58: 3765-3768, 1998.
Raleigh, J.A, Chou, S.-C., Tables L, Suchindran S., Varia, M.A. and Horsman M.R. Relationship of hypoxia to Metallothionin Expression in Murine Tumors. Int. J. Radiat Oncol Biol.Phys 42:727-730, 1998
Varia M.A., Calkins, D.P, Rinker L. H., , Kennedy A.S., Novotny D., Fowler W.C., and Raleigh J.A. Pimonidazole: A Novel Hypoxia Marker For Complementary Study Of Tumor Hypoxia And Cell Proliferation in Cervical Carcinoma. Gynecol Oncol 71:270-277, 1998.
Varia M.A. Bundy, B.N., Deppe G, Mannell R., Averette H., Rose P and Connelly P. Cervical Carcinoma Metastatic To Para-Aortic Nodes: Extended Field Radiation Therapy With Concomitant 5FU/Cisplatin Chemotherapy. A Gynecologic Oncology Group Study. Int. J. Radiat Oncol Biol.Phys 1015-1023, 1998.
Varia MA, Chou SC, Novotny DB, Ballenger CA, Raleigh JA. Hypoxia and microvessel density in squamous cell carcinomas of the uterine and head and neck. Int. J. Rad Onc Biol 45(Suppl. 3):290-291, 1999.
Raleigh JA, Chou SC, Calkins-Adams DP, Ballenger CA, Novotny DB, Varia MA. A clinical study of hypoxia and metallothionein protein expression in squamous cell carcinomas. Clin Cancer Res. 2000 Mar;6(3):855-62.
Raleigh, JA, Thrall DE, and Varia, MA. Development and clinical application of pimonidazole as a marker for tumor hypoxia. Recent Res Devel Cancer 3:189-210, 2001
Varia MA, Clemens PL, Chou SC, Raleigh JA. Absence of apoptosis in hypoxic cells in cervical carcinoma. Int. J. Rad Onc Biol 51(Suppl. 3):326, 2001.
Varia MA, Chou SC, Ballenger CA, Novotny DB, Lerea LS, Haroon Z, Murphy BJ, Raleigh JA. An approach to study mechanisms of hypoxia-associated poor prognosis using hypoxia marker pimonidazole in cancers of the head and neck, cervix, and breast.. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2000 Jan 1;48(3 Suppl 1):271
E-mail: varia@radonc.unc.edu
Telephone: (919) 966-7700
FAX: (919) 966-7681
Address: NC Clinical Cancer Ctr, Department of Radiation Oncology, CB# 7512 Chapel Hill, NC
