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Danny Vesprini
Danny Vesprini

Affiliate scientist

Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., T wing
Toronto, ON
M4N 3M5

Phone: 416-480-6100 ext. 64806
Fax: 416-480-6002

Administrative Assistant: Barb Zurowski
Phone: 416-480-4806
Email: barb.zurowski@sunnybrook.ca


Education:

  • B.Sc., 1994, molecular biology and biotechnology, McMaster University, Canada
  • M.Sc., 1997, department of immunology, University of Toronto, Canada
  • MD, 2002, faculty of medicine, U of T, Canada
  • FRCPC, 2007, radiation oncology, U of T, Canada

Appointments and Affiliations:

  • Affiliate scientist, Biological Sciences, Odette Cancer Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
  • Radiation oncologist, department of radiation oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook
  • Assistant professor, department of radiation oncology, U of T

Research Foci:

  • Cancer ablative therapy for prostate and breast cancer using MRI guidance
  • Biomarkers of prostate cancer progression
  • Genetic risk factors for prostate cancer development (BRCA mutation carriers, African and Caribbean descent, family history)
  • Prediction and reduction of radiation-induced toxicity in women treated for breast cancer

Research Summary:

Dr. Vesprini is a clinician-investigator with a research focus on identifying genetic biomarkers of prostate cancer progression, and radiation response and toxicity in tumours with a DNA repair deficiency. He is one of the founding principal investigators of a Canada-wide collaboration following men with a BRCA1 and BRCA 2 mutation to determine if early screening, prevention and novel treatments can be offered to these men who are at increased risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer.

He has initiated and runs the Familial Prostate Cancer Clinic, which clinically and academically follows men at high risk of developing prostate cancer (e.g., owing to family history, being of African or Caribbean descent or being a BRCA gene mutation carrier). He has developed biobanks of DNA, serum and urine in men with prostate cancer followed on an active surveillance protocol, as well as men with a genetic predisposition to develop aggressive disease, and is involved in research collaborations that aim to identify biomarkers of occult aggressive disease.

Dr. Vesprini is also involved in clinical trials. He is the principal investigator on a multicentre randomized controlled trial designed to determine if a prone treatment position decreases acute radiation-induced toxicity in women with large breasts. He is the Sunnybrook prostate cancer lead and breast cancer team member in the cancer ablative therapy program, which is part of an international consortium focusing on MR-guided radiotherapy. He is also the provincial principal investigator of a stereotactic radiotherapy trial in men with oligmetastatic disease and co-investigator on multiple trials in breast and prostate cancer that are focused on improving radiotherapy delivery and outcomes. 

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

  1. Klotz L, Vesprini D, Sethukavalan P, Jethava V, Zhang L, Jain S, Yamamoto T, Mamedov A, Loblaw A. Long-Term Follow-Up of a Large Active Surveillance Cohort of Patients with Prostate Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2015;33(3):272–7
  2. Vesprini D, Liu S, Nam R. Predicting high risk prostate cancer with serum and DNA biomarkers. Invited review. Curr Opin Urol. 2013;23(3):252–60.
  3. Vesprini D, Chung P, Tolan S, Gospodarowicz M, Jewett M, O'Malley M, Sweet J, Moore M, Panzarella T, Sturgeon J, Sugar L, Anson-Cartwright L, Warde P. Utility of serum tumor markers during surveillance for stage I seminoma. Cancer. 2012;118(21):5245–50.
  4. Vesprini D, Catton C, Lockwood G, Nichol A, Skala M, Bayley A, Chung P, Crook J, Gospodarowicz M, Menard C, McLean M, Milosevic M, Warde P, Bristow R. Inverse relationship between biochemical outcome and acute toxicity following image-guided radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012;83(2):608–16.
  5. Vesprini D, Sia M, Lockwood G, Moseley D, Bayley A, Bristow R, Chung P, Ménard C, Milosevic M, Warde P, Catton C. The role of principal component analysis in predicting toxicity in prostate cancer patients treated with hypofractionated IMRT. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2011 Nov. 15;81(4):e415–21.
  6. Vesprini D, Narod S, Crook J, Preiner J, Trachtenberg J, Sridhar S. Bristow R. The therapeutic ratio is preserved for radiotherapy or cisplatin treatment in BRCA2-mutated prostate cancers. Can Urol Assoc J. 2011;5(2):E31–5.
  7. Bristow RG, Ozcelik H, Jalali F, Chan N, Vesprini D. Homologous recombination and prostate cancer: a model for novel DNA repair targets and therapies. Radiother Oncol. 2007;83(3):220–30.

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