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| The AACI is dedicated to promoting the common interests of the nation’s leading academic cancer centers that are focused on the eradication of cancer through a comprehensive and multidisciplinary program of cancer research, treatment, patient care, prevention, education, and community outreach. |
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| AACI Update is an e-newsletter for the cancer center directors and key contacts at AACI member institutions and individuals interested in the cancer center-related activities of AACI. AACI Update reports on the progress of AACI initiatives and other AACI endeavors that benefit the cancer community and highlights important news and events at AACI member institutions. |
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Kimmel Cancer Center Selects Nelson for Top Post
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William G. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., a member of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine faculty since 1992, has been selected to lead the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.
Nelson, who specializes in prostate cancer genetics and treatment, is nationally known as a leader in translational cancer research who with fellow Johns Hopkins colleagues discovered the most common genome alteration in prostate cancer.
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Davidson to Lead University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
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One of the nation’s top breast cancer researchers has been chosen to head the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.
Dr. Nancy E. Davidson, who currently oversees breast cancer research at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, will begin her new duties in March.
"I’m extremely excited about this," Dr. Davidson said. "The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute is one of the great cancer institutes, and I’m especially excited about how its research is so tightly integrated with patient care at the UPMC cancer centers."
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Society of Nuclear Medicine is New AACI Sustaining Member
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AACI is pleased to welcome the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) as a sustaining member. SNM is an international scientific and professional organization founded in 1954 to promote the science, technology and practical application of nuclear medicine. Its 16,000 members are physicians, technologists and scientists specializing in the research and practice of nuclear medicine. In addition to publishing journals, newsletters and books, the Society also sponsors international meetings and workshops designed to increase the competencies of nuclear medicine practitioners and to promote new advances in the science of nuclear medicine.
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News from the Centers
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NIH Grant Supports Research on Ginseng
University of Chicago Cancer Research Center
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has awarded $6 million over five years to the University of Chicago Medical Center to create the Center for Herbal Research on Colorectal Cancer (CHRCC), one of four new Centers of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine funded by NCCAM this year.
Researchers in the CHRCC will study the anti-tumor effects of different preparations of the herbs American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and notoginseng (Panax notoginseng), which are widely used but little-studied herbal therapies for a variety of ailments, including prevention and treatment of colon cancer.
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Vanderbilt Earns CEO Cancer Gold Standard Recognition
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been accredited with the CEO Gold Standard™ certification, recognizing VUMC’s commitment to the health of employees and family members by certifying its efforts to meet an exceptionally high standard of cancer prevention, screening and care guidelines.
The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center took the lead in seeking accreditation as an indication of its commitment to reducing the burden of cancer for its own staff and colleagues.
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Head and Neck Cancer Patient Survival Greatly Affected by Coexisting Ailments
Washington University School of Medicine, Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Current estimates for head and neck cancer survival are largely inaccurate because they widely disregard many of the most common diseases such patients have in addition to their primary cancer, says Jay Piccirillo, M.D., a head and neck specialist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
This highlights a broader problem with cancer survival statistics, which generally don’t take into account the effect of co-existing conditions, or comorbidities, according to Piccirillo.
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New Associate Director of Clinical Trials and Therapeutics Named at CINJ
The Cancer Institute of New Jersey
Susan Goodin has been named to serve as the new Associate Director of Clinical Trials and Therapeutics at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ). Goodin, PharmD, FCCP, BCOP at CINJ and professor of medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, was recently tapped for the position by CINJ Director, Robert S. DiPaola, MD. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
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Fox Chase Board Elects David G. Marshall Chairman
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Fox Chase Cancer Center’s board of directors has elected David G. Marshall to succeed William J. Avery as board chairman on February 26 at the first meeting of the board in 2009. The election took place Oct. 30 at the board’s fall meeting.
Marshall has been a member of the Fox Chase board since 1994. He became one of four new vice chairmen in March 2008.
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Le Beau Receives American Cancer Society’s Top National Honor for Research
University of Chicago Cancer Research Center
The American Cancer Society honored Michelle Le Beau, PhD, director of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center, with its prestigious Distinguished Service Award this month for her extraordinary work to control cancer. Le Beau, a professor of medicine and human genetics, was recognized for her major contributions and commitment to cancer research. Le Beau was the only researcher recognized by the American Cancer Society at its 2008 national awards. She received the award in New York City at the American Cancer Society’s annual meeting.
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Latinas More Likely to Regret Breast Cancer Treatment Decisions
University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Latina women who prefer speaking Spanish are more likely than other ethnic groups to express regret or dissatisfaction with their breast cancer treatment, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Despite receiving similar treatment, Latina women were 5.6 times more likely than white women to report high levels of dissatisfaction and regret about their breast cancer treatment decision.
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Groundbreaking for New Indiana Cancer Research Facility
Indiana University Simon Cancer Center
A groundbreaking ceremony for Harper Hall, the new home of expanded medical and cancer research initiatives at the Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend (IUSM-SB) and the University of Notre Dame, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday (Nov. 21) at a site adjacent to Raclin-Carmichael Hall on the corner of Angela Boulevard and Notre Dame Avenue.
Charles M. “Mike” Harper, the project’s benefactor, is the retired chair and chief executive officer of ConAgra Foods and RJR Nabisco. He made a $10 million gift to Notre Dame to support the construction of Harper Hall. The gift was matched with $10 million appropriated by the state of Indiana to Indiana University for the project.
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Jonsson Scientists Identify Signaling Pathway Driving Deadly Breast Cancer Sub-type
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA
An intracellular pathway not previously linked to breast cancer is driving a sub-type of the disease that is highly lethal and disproportionately over-represented in African American women. The pathway regulates how cells identify and destroy proteins and represents a class of genes called proteasome targeting complexes.
"The mortality rates in this subgroup of cancer are very high," said Tim Lane, senior author of the paper and a researcher at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The possibility that this new proteasome targeting complex might provide targets for therapeutic intervention is a completely new area for breast cancer research."
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Ohio State Cancer Programs to Grow in a New Home
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Outpatient oncology programs associated with Ohio State’s James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute will have a new home beginning in 2011.
The Ohio State University Board of Trustees today (11/7) authorized the University to negotiate final terms and enter into a lease/purchase agreement for property at 739 West Third Ave., less than a mile from The James. Construction of the JamesCare Comprehensive Breast Health Center will more than double the space currently in use at JamesCare in Dublin and allow for future expansion.
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Stanford Tumor Glycome Laboratory -- A New Initiative of Postgenomics Research
Stanford Cancer Center
The Stanford University research team led by Denong Wang, MD, PhD, has been selected by the National Cancer Institute to establish a Tumor Glycome Laboratory to study how changes in carbohydrate structure may play a major role in the progression of prostate cancer and how immune systems recognize and react to cancer-associated complex carbohydrates. The Stanford Tumor Glycome Laboratory is one of seven such NCI-funded labs nationwide that will share $15.5 million over five years to discover, develop and validate cancer biomarkers (molecular biological indicators) by targeting the carbohydrate (glycan, or sugar) structures on cancer cells.
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Intervention Program Boosts Survival in Breast Cancer Patients
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
A new study provides the best evidence to date that a psychological intervention program designed for breast cancer patients not only improves their health – it actually increases their chance of survival. Researchers at Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center found that patients participating in an intervention program reduced their risk of dying of breast cancer by 56 percent after an average of 11 years.
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McDonnell Foundation Awards City of Hope Researchers Grant for Brain Tumor Research
City of Hope
The James S. McDonnell Foundation awarded a research grant to Benham Badie, M.D., director of City of Hope’s Brain Tumor Program, to study the role a gene receptor linked to complications from diabetes may play in treating brain tumors. The 3-year, $450,000 21st Century Science Initiative in Brain Cancer Research Award supports Badie’s collaborative study with City of Hope colleague Rama Natarajan, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism, to better understand the gene receptor’s role in suppressing the immune response. This research may one day lead to the development of new treatments designed to reboot a patient’s immune system to battle a brain tumor.
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Risk of Breast Cancer Mutations Underestimated for Asian Women, Study Shows
Stanford Cancer Center
Oncologist Allison Kurian, MD, and her colleagues at the Stanford University School of Medicine were perplexed. Computer models designed to identify women who might have dangerous genetic mutations that increase their risk of breast and ovarian cancer worked well for white women. But they seemed to be less reliable for another ethnic group. “We’ve been repeatedly surprised when Asian women who the models predicted would probably not have the mutations do in fact have them,” said Kurian. She recently showed that in a head-to-head comparison between whites and Asians, two of the most commonly used models failed in predicting the presence of mutations in almost half of the Asian women studied.
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Gleevec Holds Potential for Neurofibromatosis Treatment, IU Scientists Report
Indiana University Simon Cancer Center
Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine report that the anti-cancer drug Gleevec holds out promise to become the first effective treatment for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease that has resisted treatments until now. The research team is conducting clinical tests of the drug following successful laboratory tests and a "compassionate use" of the drug that showed dramatic results in a three-year-old girl at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
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St. Baldrick’s Foundation Funds Post-Fellowship Childhood Cancer Research
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University
St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, recently awarded $330,000 to fund Alex Huang, M.D., Ph.D., of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, as a St. Baldrick’s Scholar for three years. Huang is one of the first doctors to be funded as a St. Baldrick’s Scholar, and overseeing him will be John Letterio, M.D. Part of a new funding program to further the research of promising young pediatric oncologists, these awards bridge the funding-gap between their fellowships and sources of funding available to more established researchers. These awards also will provide much-needed research funding to doctors during this critical stage of their careers.
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Grants Support Creation of Chicago Center for Systems Biology
University of Chicago Cancer Research Center
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded more than $15 million over five years to the University of Chicago to support a new research center--The Chicago Center for Systems Biology--to study how networks of genes work together to enable cells and organisms to respond to environmental and genetic change.
The Chicago Center for Systems Biology (CCSB) also represents a collaboration among researchers at Chicago-area universities fostered by the Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC), with support from The Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust. The CBC will provide an additional $3 million over three years to the new initiative.
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Curran Awarded Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Walter Curran Jr., MD, has been awarded the inaugural Lawrence W. Davis Chair of Radiation Oncology in Emory University School of Medicine. Curran was presented the honor by Thomas J. Lawley, MD, dean of Emory’s School of Medicine. Curran is chairman of the department of radiation oncology, Emory’s School of Medicine, and medical director of the Emory Winship Cancer Institute. Curran joined Emory in January 2008 from Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he served as professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology and clinical director for the Kimmel Cancer Center, also at Jefferson.
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Pediatric Oncologist to Lead Cancer Prevention and Control
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
A leading expert in cancer survivorship has joined Vanderbilt Medical Center to spearhead its efforts to meet the needs of adults and children facing a diagnosis of cancer and its aftermath. Debra Friedman, M.D., has been named the E. Bronson Ingram Chair in Pediatric Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics. She also is leader of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Cancer’s Prevention and Control Program and will serve as director of the REACH (Resources, Research, Education, Clinical Care, Health Promotion) for Survivorship Program.
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Karmanos Most Preferred Hospital for Cancer Care in Southeast Michigan
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
For the second consecutive year, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center has been chosen as the most preferred hospital for cancer care in southeast Michigan, according to the 2008 Cancer Treatment Preference Profile Survey conducted by the National Research Corporation.
The annual survey, conducted via an internet questionnaire in May 2008, was sent to nearly 200,000 households throughout the United States, including 3,504 homes in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston, St. Clair and Monroe counties. The respondent was the individual in the household who is most often the primary healthcare decision-maker. The survey results showed that the Karmanos Cancer Center was the preferred hospital for cancer care with respondents from southeast Michigan’s seven-county area, as well as with respondents from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
Respondents who preferred Karmanos for cancer care also preferred Karmanos for its personalized care, latest technology and equipment, best doctors, best overall quality and the best image or reputation.
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Largest Gift in University of Louisville History to Benefit Brown Cancer Center
James Graham Brown Cancer Center
The James Graham Brown Foundation has committed $20 million over the next five years to the University of Louisville to benefit the cancer center that bears its name. “This gift is momentous not only because of its magnitude, but also because of the history of the James Graham Brown Foundation’s commitment to the vision for a world-class cancer center at the University of Louisville – one that we are achieving with the tremendous support of our community. But perhaps more importantly, it is significant because of the hope it provides to the people of our state and region who are fighting this terrible disease,” said UofL President James Ramsey.
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Schiemann Wins DOD Breast Cancer Idea Award
University of Colorado Cancer Center
William Schiemann, PhD, associate professor of Pharmacology at the University of Colorado Denver and member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center Hormone Related Malignancies Program, has won a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Award for his project, “Chemotherapeutic targeting of Fibulin 5 to suppress breast cancer invasion and metastasis stimulated by TGF-b.” The award, which starts in February, is for $569,699 over three years.
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DNA Repair Enzyme Identified that may be Crucial to Cancer Development
City of Hope
For many years, researchers have thought that mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells, may be important to the development of cancer. The theory has remained controversial and difficult to study, but City of Hope cancer biologists have made a discovery that could lead to new ways of testing it. The study appeared in the Nov. 7 issue of the journal Molecular Cell. A team led by Li Zheng, Ph.D., assistant research scientist, and under the direction of Binghui Shen, Ph.D., professor and director in the Division of Radiation Biology, has found an enzyme that repairs human DNA exclusively in mitochondria. Since DNA repair is strongly tied to cancer, the team hopes to use the enzyme to create a model for studying how mitochondrial DNA mutations impact the development of cancer.
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Researchers from Two Comprehensive Cancer Centers Receive Award
University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center/Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
Peter Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc., director of the University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Stephen Baylin, deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, received the David Workman Memorial Award from the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation on Oct. 22 for their cutting-edge research in the treatment of cancer. The award was presented to the scientists for their work identifying molecular processes in silencing genes that influence tumor suppression. The research has led to the successful use of less toxic drugs to restore normal gene function in the treatment of blood malignancies.
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Progression of Precancerous Lung Lesions Analyzed
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
The risk of precancerous lesions developing into lung cancer is highest among current and heavy smokers, according to a study presented by Vijay Jayaprakash, MBBS, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Seventh International Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, November 16 -19, Washington, DC. Normal lung tissue undergoes a series of precancerous changes before it develops into lung cancer. Metaplasia, dysplasia and carcinoma in situ (CIS) have been identified as precancerous conditions; however, not all of these lesions progress to cancer. Dr. Jayaprakash, working with Mary Reid, PhD, RPCI, evaluated the risk factors and the natural progression of these precancerous lesions to lung cancer.
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MRI Spots DCIS in Mice
University of Chicago Cancer Research Center
A new magnetic resonance imaging procedure can detect very early breast cancer in mice, including ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a precursor to invasive cancer. Some of the tumors detected were less than 300 microns in diameter, the smallest cancers ever detected by MRI.
The technique is helping researchers study the natural history of DCIS in order to understand which tumors will become invasive cancers and require surgery, and which tumors will not. It will also be used to assess the effects of preventive therapies, such a green tea, on the development of early breast cancers. It may eventually enhance the power of MRI as a breast cancer screening tool.
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Kimmel named “Center of Excellence” by Fertile Hope Organization
The Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson
The Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson has been designated a Center of Excellence by the Fertile Hope organization. The organization recognizes cancer centers that actively address reproductive needs of their patients and survivors by designating them as Centers of Excellence. There are only five other Fertile Hope Centers of Excellence in the United States.
“Being designated a Center of Excellence by Fertile Hope demonstrates that the physicians at Kimmel Cancer Center adhere to the highest standards in informing their patients about the risks of treatment,” said Richard Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Kimmel Cancer Center. “We are honored to be recognized for our dedication to preserving our patients’ reproductive health.”
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Anti-Angiogenesis Drugs May Foil Tumors by Building Up, Not Tearing Down, Blood Vessels
Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego
Scientists have thought that one way to foil a tumor from generating blood vessels to feed its growth – a process called angiogenesis – was by creating drugs aimed at stopping a key vessel growth-promoting protein. But now the opposite seems to be true.
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla have found evidence that blocking that protein target, called VEGF, or vascular endothelial growth factor, doesn’t really halt the process at all. Instead, cutting levels of VEGF in a tumor actually props up existing blood vessels, making them stronger and more normal, and in some cases the tumors larger. But as a result, the tumor is more vulnerable to the effects of chemotherapy drugs.
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Huntsman Breaks Ground for Cancer Hospital Expansion
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Cancer survivors and friends of Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah today join Jon M. and Karen Huntsman in a celebration of hope at the official groundbreaking of the cancer hospital expansion on October 31 at 11 a.m. In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Huntsman, featured speakers will include Utah State Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., University of Utah President Michael K. Young, Senator Orrin Hatch, President Thomas M. Monson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics CEO David Entwhistle.
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Migraines Associated with Lower Risk of Breast Cancer
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Women who suffer from migraines may take at least some comfort in a recent, first-of-its-kind study that suggests a history of such headaches is associated with a significantly lower risk of breast cancer. Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center report these findings in the November issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. “We found that, overall, women who had a history of migraines had a 30 percent lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who did not have a history of such headaches,” said Li, a breast-cancer epidemiologist and associate member of the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division.
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Roswell Park Receives Gates Foundation Grant for Innovative Global Health Research
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) has announced that it has received a $100,000Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Yasmin Thanavala, PhD, Professor of Immunology, titled "Development of a Single Dose, Multicomponent, Thermostable Vaccine." Dr. Thanavala’s project is one of 104 grants announced by the Gates Foundation for the first funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold, new solutions for health challenges in developing countries. The grants were provided to all levels of scientists in 22 countries and five continents. To receive funding, Dr. Thanavala showed how her ideas fall outside current scientific paradigms and could lead to significant advances in global health if successful.
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OSU Researcher Receives $5.5 Million NIH Grant
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca of The Ohio State University Medical Center has received a $5.5 million dollar grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health to develop a more potent oncolytic virus as a treatment of brain cancer. Chiocca, chair of neurosurgery at the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, and his team of researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center will be working on the development of a biologic agent as a new treatment for brain cancer that may one day be used in human clinical trials.
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UNMC Receives $5.3 Million Grant for Pancreatic Cancer Research
UNMC Eppley Cancer Center
The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $5.3 million, five-year Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in pancreatic cancer to the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center. UNMC was one of only two programs funded this year in pancreatic cancer.
SPORE grants are large, multidisciplinary federal grants that fund scientific research aimed at bringing new laboratory findings quickly to the clinic. They are highly competitive grants and are sought after by the most prestigious research and medical institutions across the country.
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Lurie’s Mahvi named Hines Professor in Surgery at Northwestern
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, of Northwestern University
David M. Mahvi, M.D., who joined Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in July as chief of gastrointestinal and oncologic surgery, has been named the James R. Hines Professor in Surgery. Mahvi is at the forefront of research in pancreatic, liver and hepatobiliary diseases, and he has developed an international reputation as an expert in the field of gastrointestinal malignancies. He has investigated gene therapy for the treatment of cancer and has developed several devices to treat liver cancer.
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Sibling Study Could Lead to Better Treatments for Inherited Form of Colon Cancer
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) believe they may be one step closer to understanding how certain forms of colon cancer develop.
In a study using siblings who have been diagnosed with colon cancer, scientists discovered similarities on a region of a particular chromosome, referred to as 7q31. Researchers believe that piece of genetic material may be causing a subset of colon cancers that run in families.
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UCSD Cancer Researchers Receive Grants
University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center
UCSD Cancer Researchers Receive Grants
Four researchers at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center received grants totaling $1.14 million to study the nature, development and spread of breast cancer, it was announced Monday.
The funding is from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which has distributed $1.2 billion for breast cancer research over the past 25 years. The nonprofit has pledged to invest another $2 billion during the next 10 years.
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Richer Wins DOD Breast Cancer Research Idea Award
University of Colorado Cancer Center
Jennifer Richer, PhD, associate professor of Pathology at the University of Colorado Denver and member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center Hormone Related Malignancies Program, has been awarded a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Idea Award for her project, “MicroRNA-200c: A Novel Way to Attack Breast Cancer Metastases by Restoring the Epithelial Phenotype.” Dr. Richer will receive $572,130 over three years starting this spring.
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Sen. Hutchison Secures Millions for Nanotechnology, Gulf War Illness Research Projects
UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern Medical Center has received $1.2 million in appropriations from the Department of Defense for 2009. The funding supplements $2 million secured in 2007 and 2008 and will continue collaborative studies with UT Dallas into groundbreaking research projects with the goal of combining nanotechnology and molecular medicine to treat diseases such as cancer and autoimmune-related ailments. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a longtime supporter of the medical center’s research, secured the latest appropriation, as well as the earlier federal grants.
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City of Hope Researchers Validate Gene Silencing Role of MicroRNA in Nucleus of Cells
City of Hope
Scientists know that short strands of RNA called microRNA (miRNA) control the expression of genes, but a City of Hope team has now shown that miRNA also play a role in epigenetic changes deep within the cell. The finding potentially expands scientists’ arsenal as they pursue gene therapies against genetic diseases such as cancer. City of Hope’s John J. Rossi, Ph.D., Lidow Family Research Chair and senior investigator on the study, and colleagues from City of Hope and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology published the study in the Oct. 21 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
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Roswell Park Takes Aim at Tobacco Epidemic in Hungary
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) faculty members recently met with the Hungarian Health Minister and other government officials to discuss strategies to reduce smoking in Hungary. Laszlo Mechtler, MD, Department of Neurology at RPCI and President of the Hungarian Medical Association of America, led the delegation. “With one in two tobacco users dying prematurely from tobacco use, we need to be more aggressive in our actions to address the tobacco problem in Hungary,” he said. Tamas Szekely, MD, Hungarian Minister of Health, added, “Hungary has high smoking rates and consequently high rates of lung cancer and heart disease that result from tobacco use.”
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HPV Virus Helps Infected Cervical and Head and Neck Cancer Cells Spread, Resist Therapy
Jonsson Cancer Center, UCLA
The human papillomavirus (HPV) allows infected cervical and head and neck cancer cells to maintain internal molecular conditions that make the cancers resistant to therapy and more likely to grow and spread, resulting in a poor prognosis for patients, researchers with UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center have found. Virtually all human cancers experience a state called intratumoral hypoxia, a low amount of oxygen within the tumor. In the UCLA study, researchers showed that the HPV-positive cancers adapted to and took advantage of the hypoxic environment by expressing a protein that activates a cell signaling pathway that helps the cancers survive, grow and spread.
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Linger wins inaugural Lung Cancer Research Foundation Merit Award
University of Colorado Cancer Center
A cancer researcher at the University of Colorado Denver has received the inaugural Lung Cancer Research Foundation Merit Award for her novel work on two receptor tyrosine kinases in lung cancer which play important roles in tumor development and progression.
Rachel M.A. Linger, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow, will also receive a $50,000, one-year grant from the foundation to support her work. The New York-based private foundation gave her the award at its annual luncheon on Nov. 3.
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The Wistar Institute Wistar Named One of the “Best Places to Work” in Academia
The Wistar Institute
The Scientist magazine named The Wistar Institute No. 11 on a list of “Best Places to Work in Academia,” citing strengths in categories “management and policy” and “peers.” The rankings, derived from surveys of scientists employed by the nation’s research institutes and academic medical centers, appear in the November 1 issue. “Wistar’s greatest strength is its people and our shared commitment to excellence,” said Russel E. Kaufman, M.D., president and CEO of The Wistar Institute. “This recognition from within our own ranks reflects a spirit of collegiality and culture of collaboration that is key to advancing scientific discovery.”
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Moores Studying Novel Leukemia Vaccine for High-Risk Patients
Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are conducting clinical trials of a novel therapy aimed at revving up the immune system to combat a particularly difficult-to-treat form of leukemia. The experimental therapy is being offered to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) whose cancer did not respond or was resistant to initial treatment or harbors a particular chromosomal abnormality called a 17p deletion. In most of these cases, the cancer has failed to respond to further conventional therapy.
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Kimmel Network Appoints New Clinical Director
The Jefferson Kimmel Cancer Center
The Jefferson Kimmel Cancer Center Network has appointed Leonard Gomella, M.D., F.A.C.S., clinical director of the network after serving as interim clinical director for nine months. Three other physicians also took on new leadership roles as associate clinical directors: Scot Fisher, D.O.; Ernest “Gary” Rosato, M.D., F.A.C.S.; and William Tester, M.D., F.A.C.P.
“Serving as clinical director gives me the opportunity work to strengthen the relationship among the members of the network with the resources available through the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson,” Dr. Gomella said.
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HPV Expert joins OSU Cancer Program
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Leading human papilloma virus (HPV) expert Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, will join The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute on Jan. 1 as a professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology and a member of the Cancer Control and Viral Oncology Programs in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. She will hold the Jeg Coughlin Chair in Cancer Research. Focusing on the role that HPV plays in the development of head and neck cancers, Gillison was the first to identify HPV infection as the cause of certain oral cancers and identified multiple sex partners as the most important risk factor for these cancers. At Ohio State, Gillison plans to build a program focused on identifying associations between infections and cancers, with the ultimate goal of applying discoveries to prevent and treat cancer.
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Nevada Cancer Institute Wins TOBY Award
Nevada Cancer Institute
Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI) was honored with a prestigious The Office Building of the Year (TOBY) Award for 2008 Outstanding Building of the Year for medical facilities. TOBY Award is the most prestigious and comprehensive program of its kind in the commercial real estate industry recognizing excellence in building management, operational efficiency, tenant retention, emergency planning and community impact.
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Ohio State Study: Novel Blood Test Detects Ovarian Cancer
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
A pilot study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center found that a novel blood test that screens for microRNAs can reliably detect ovarian cancer, even among patients who test negative for the deadly disease with the widely used CA-125 blood test. “The early detection of ovarian cancer is the Holy Grail,” says lead investigator Dr. David E. Cohn, a gynecologic oncologist and researcher at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.
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