Wittliff was born on June 15, 1938 in Taft, Texas,[10][11][12] of primarily Eastern European heritage. He is a 6th generation Texan and direct descendant of John Cryer (Crier), who was recruited to settle Texas as part of Stephen F. Austin's original 300 families. He, his brother Bill and their mother Laura moved to Blanco when they were boys.[10][11][12]
In 1969, Wittliff was recruited to the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine as an assistant professor to work with Thomas C. Hall,[18] a co-founder of the sub-specialty of medical oncology, to develop the new Cancer Center. In 1975, Wittliff was promoted to Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Head on the Section on EndocrineBiochemistry in the Cancer Center. In 1976, the University of Louisville School of Medicine and Dentistry recruited Wittliff as Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry, a position he would hold until 1983. He was also actively involved in the development of the first Cancer Center there. Although Wittliff began developing assays for breast cancer that quantified estrogen and progestinreceptor proteins using radio-labeledsteroidligands while at Rochester, it was in Louisville that he collaborated with New England Nuclear (NEN, later NEN/DuPont) to develop the first FDA-Approved Assay Kits for quantifying these clinically relevant biomarkers[4][5][6][7]
Upon arrival at the University of Louisville, Wittliff also established a clinical laboratory certified by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and CLIA to provide clinically relevant assays that quantified levels of estrogen and progestinreceptor proteins for breast cancer management. This led Wittliff and his group to develop reference materials for these protein biomarkers and establishment of inter-laboratory Quality Assurance Programs for standardizing determinations of estrogen and progestin receptor proteins in breast cancer biopsies. Hundreds of laboratories engaged in cooperative clinical trials of breast cancer treatment by groups such as the NSABP,[1][19]CALGB,[20]ECOG,[21]NCCTG,[22] SECSG[23] and SWOG[24] participated in NCI-sponsored QA Surveys established by Wittliff.[25] These QA programs were extended to the College of American Pathologists[26][27][28] and international investigators to standardize determinations of these cancerbiomarkers for routine assessment by all clinical laboratories.[28] In 2024, Wittliff donated his de-identified research database and biorepository, which contains among the most highly quantified data sets of breast cancer biomarkers in the world, to the University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School, and Texas Advanced Computing Center. The irreplaceable materials are now preserved for other scientists to use for clinical trials in silico and to develop future companion diagnostic tests.[29][30]
Personal life
He is the older of two children of Laura (née Sachtleben) Wittliff and William Albert Wittliff. Wittliff's brother William D. Wittliff was a noted American screenwriter and photographer. Various of Wittliff's and his brother's childhood experiences during World War II were depicted in the film Raggedy Man (1981).[10][11][12] While in college, Wittliff was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity and a long-time supporter of his adopted UofL chapter, and later received the John G. Tower Distinguished Alumnus Award.[16] He married Theresa H. "Mitzie" Wittliff (née Hano) and had two sons. Later she also became his collaborator.[7] Wittliff is widely known as an Oenophile having served as President of the Kentucky Chapters of the American Wine Society and of the American Institute of Wine & Food. He was also a founding member of the Kentucky Chapter of Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs.
↑ Kardinal, C. G.; Perry, M. C.; Korzun, A. H.; Rice, M. A.; Ginsberg, S.; Wood, W. C. (1988-02-01). "Responses to chemotherapy or chemohormonal therapy in advanced breast cancer patients treated previously with adjuvant chemotherapy. A subset analysis of CALGB Study 8081". Cancer. 61 (3): 415–419. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(19880201)61:3<415::aid-cncr2820610302>3.0.co;2-q. ISSN0008-543X. PMID3338011.
↑ Ravdin, P. M.; Green, S.; Dorr, T. M.; McGuire, W. L.; Fabian, C.; Pugh, R. P.; Carter, R. D.; Rivkin, S. E.; Borst, J. R.; Belt, R. J. (August 1992). "Prognostic significance of progesterone receptor levels in estrogen receptor-positive patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with tamoxifen: results of a prospective Southwest Oncology Group study". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 10 (8): 1284–1291. doi:10.1200/JCO.1992.10.8.1284. ISSN0732-183X. PMID1634918.
↑ Wittliff, J. L.; Fisher, B.; Durant, J. R. (1980). "Establishment of uniformity in steroid receptor analyses used in cooperative clinical trials of breast cancer treatment". Recent Results in Cancer Research. Fortschritte der Krebsforschung. Progres dans les Recherches Sur le Cancer. 71: 198–206. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-81406-8_30. ISBN978-3-642-81408-2. ISSN0080-0015. PMID6988915.
↑ Oxley, D. K. (January 1984). "Hormone receptors in breast cancer. Analytic accuracy of contemporary assays". Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. 108 (1): 20–23. ISSN0003-9985. PMID6546331.
1 2 Hammond, M. Elizabeth H.; Hayes, Daniel F.; Dowsett, Mitch; Allred, D. Craig; Hagerty, Karen L.; Badve, Sunil; Fitzgibbons, Patrick L.; Francis, Glenn; Goldstein, Neil S.; Hayes, Malcolm; Hicks, David G.; Lester, Susan; Love, Richard; Mangu, Pamela B.; McShane, Lisa (July 2010). "American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists guideline recommendations for immunohistochemical testing of estrogen and progesterone receptors in breast cancer (unabridged version)". Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. 134 (7): e48–72. doi:10.5858/134.7.e48. ISSN1543-2165. PMID20586616.
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