| Headlines |
AACI Centers Voice Funding Concerns
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A number of AACI cancer center directors recently published editorials in their local newspapers underscoring what NIH and NCI funding means for people and local economies in their individual states, as well as for overall progress against cancer.
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) produced a draft of the editorial, and AACI worked in collaboration with AACR to spread the word on the need for stable cancer research funding. Center directors tailored the draft to reflect funding needs and experiences in their own centers and states.
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Fellowship Application Deadline Approaching
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The deadline for applications for the AACI Translational Cancer Research Fellowship is February 1, 2012. Please visit our website – www.aaci-cancer.org/fellowship.asp to read the complete guidelines and instructions for applicants. For additional information, please contact Kate Burroughs via e-mail at kate@aaci-cancer.org.
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Capitol Hill Day Planned for May 17
| Please join us in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, May 17, 2012 to showcase your center’s work during meetings with Members of Congress and to emphasize how the federal investment in research sustains progress in the fight against cancer. Partner organizations for the event are the American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and Friends of Cancer Research.
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National Cancer Act 40th Anniversary:
Landmark Cancer Legislation Becomes Law
To mark the 40th anniversary of the National Cancer Act of 1971, each 2011 issue of AACI Update will include a story about the history of the legislation’s passage.
President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act on December 23, 1971. The act
authorized the first 15 cancer centers and provided the NCI director with direct
access to the Oval Office, mandating that the NCI develop its programs with the
advice of a new National Cancer Advisory Board and submit an annual budget
directly to the president.
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Senate Resolution To Recognize National Cancer Act 40th Anniversary
U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and John Kerry (D-MA) are preparing to introduce a congressional resolution commemorating the 40th anniversary of the signing of the National Cancer Act, on December 23, 1971. The resolution would reaffirm the national commitment to understanding and controlling cancer and supporting cancer research as a national public health priority.
AACI has endorsed the resolution and we encourage our member institutions to do the same. We also urge our centers ask their U.S. Senators to co-sponsor the resolution.
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| News from the Centers |
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Awards & Honors
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Mayor Proclaims Steven T. Rosen Day in Chicago
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel proclaimed Nov. 9, 2011, Steven T. Rosen Day to honor Dr. Rosen's contribution to the field of oncology. Dr. Rosen is the Genevieve E. Teuton Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
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Brand Receives First Annual Moore Memorial Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Randall Brand, MD, director of UPMC’s Gastroenterology Malignancy Early Detection, Diagnosis and Prevention Program and a pancreatic cancer expert, is the 2011 recipient of the national Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research’s First Annual Moore Memorial Award.
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Breast Cancer Program Accepted into National Accreditation Program
Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
The Breast Cancer Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has been accepted for membership in the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC). The NAPBC, a program of the American College of Surgeons, represents a consortium of national professional organizations dedicated to improving of the quality of care and monitoring of outcomes for patients with diseases of the breast.
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Brenner to Receive 2011 ASH Mentor Award
The Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center
Malcolm Brenner, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, a joint program of Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital, will be presented with the 2011 American Society of Hematology Mentor Award at the society’s annual meeting in December.
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Grants & Gifts
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NCI Awards OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center $23 Million
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a 5-year, $23 million core grant renewal from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support a broad range of clinical, research and educational programs focused on creating cancer-free world. This award followed a rigorous review process by NCI which led to the highest possible rating of “exceptional” for the center.
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NCI Grant Supports Partnership to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
A $1.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities will support NU NEIGHBORS, a partnership between the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and Northeastern Illinois University to help reduce inequalities related to cancer care.
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$3.5 Million Komen Grant Targets Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Patricia LoRusso, D.O., and her colleagues will focus on creating better therapies to treat triple negative breast cancer thanks to a $3.5 million grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Dr. LoRusso is director of the Karmanos Phase 1 Clinical Trials program.
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Duncan Researchers Awarded $13 Million in New Round Of State Grants
The Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center
Researchers at Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine have received an additional $13 million in the new round of grants announced by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). The center has received more than $60 million in CPRIT funding since the institute began awarding cancer grants to Texas researchers in January 2010.
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Gastroenterologists Collaborate on $8 Million Barrett’s Esophagus Research
Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
A research group at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, led by John Lynch, MD, PhD, has received a National Cancer Institute grant to establish a Barrett’s esophagus translational research network with Columbia University (led by Timothy Wang, MD) and the Mayo Clinic (led by Kenneth Wang, MD). The award is for nearly $8 million across all sites.
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$5 Million Gift Advances Melanoma Research
Knight Cancer Institute
Longtime Oregon business leader and philanthropist John Gray has made a $5 million philanthropic investment that will advance melanoma research and clinical care at the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute.
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NCI Funds Ohio State Breast Cancer Intervention Training
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute
Barbara Andersen, PhD, professor of psychology and a researcher at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, has received a $1.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to train mental health care professionals to help cancer patients cope with the stresses of diagnosis and treatment.
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SPORE Grant Awarded to Study Brain Tumors
UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center
The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UAB Division of Neurosurgery have been awarded a SPORE, or Specialized Program of Research Excellence, grant from the National Cancer Institute for $2.3 million over three years to develop new therapies to treat brain tumors.
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Leadership Transitions
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Cohen Appointed to Advance Cancer Education
University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center
Ezra Cohen, MD, associate professor of medicine, has a new role with The University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. Effective December 1, 2011, Dr. Cohen will be the associate director for education. In this new position, Dr. Cohen will expand, integrate, and coordinate cancer-related educational efforts for trainees as well as healthcare professionals at The University of Chicago.
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Thorson Heads New Center for Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation
Lucille P. Markey Cancer Center
The University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy has created the Center for Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation. Jon Thorson, PhD, is the inaugural director. His research focuses on developing antibiotics and anticancer drugs from natural products.
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Roswell Park Welcomes New Chief Academic Officer
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Richard P. Hershberger, PhD, MBA, has joined Roswell Park Cancer Institute as Chief Academic Officer, overseeing Roswell Park’s expansive portfolio of educational programs. Dr. Hershberger will serve as Dean of the Roswell Park Graduate Division of the University at Buffalo.
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Research Highlights
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Hydrogen Peroxide Provides Clues to Immunity, Wound Healing, Tumor Biology
University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center
Anna Huttenlocher, MD, and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center have discovered the molecular sensor that detects wound-induced hydrogen peroxide and orchestrates the marshalling of neutrophils and other immune cells, or leukocytes, including those that affect tumors. The research was published in the journal Nature.
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Probiotic Protects Intestine from Radiation Injury
Siteman Cancer Center, Barnes Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center have shown that taking a probiotic before radiation therapy can protect the intestine from damage – at least in mice.
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New Approach Captures erbB1 Dynamics
University of New Mexico Cancer Center
In the November issue of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, University of New Mexico Cancer Center researchers including Diane Lidke, PhD, described dynamic erbB1 interactions at the single-molecule level, bringing to light details obscured by traditional methods. Because dimerization is a common mechanism for signal initiation, their approach is pertinent to many receptor systems.
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Common Bacteria Found to Cause Some Colon Tumors
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Working with lab cultures and mice, Johns Hopkins scientists have found that a strain of the common gut pathogen Bacteroides fragilis causes colon inflammation and increases activity of a gene called spermine oxidase in the intestine.
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New Evidence Links Virus to Brain Cancer
University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center
Tilting the scales in an ongoing debate, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center researchers have found new evidence that human cytomegalovirus is associated with glioblastoma multiforme, the brain cancer that killed Sen. Edward Kennedy. The study was published in the Journal of Virology.
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New Strategy to Image Tumors Using Nanoparticles
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute
In a paper published in the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry, two teams led by Sanford Burnham’s Masanobu Komatsu, PhD, and Dr. Kevin Belfield, PhD, of the University of Central Florida, describe a new strategy for using an advanced fluorescence imaging technique called two-photon fluorescence microscopy to more effectively resolve the details of a hidden tumor.
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Scientists Recommend Rethinking Brain MRI for Early-stage Lung Cancer Patients
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Neil Hayes, MD, MPH, and colleagues report that in early stage, asymptomatic non-small cell lung cancer, early brain recurrences are potentially detectable prior to surgery. They recommend that physicians consider including a routine pre-operative staging brain MRI.
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Some Childhood Cancer Survivors At Higher Risk for Heart Problems after Anthracycline Chemotherapy Treatment
City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute
City of Hope researchers have found that a specific group of pediatric cancer survivors have a higher chance of developing congestive heart failure after undergoing a treatment with anthracycline chemotherapy.
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Genetic Markers Found that Put Lymphoma Survivors at Higher Risk for Secondary Leukemia
City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute
Patients undergoing treatment for Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma can sometimes develop a lethal complication called therapy-related myelodysplasia or acute myeloid leukemia. City of Hope researchers have discovered genetic markers that help identify which patients might be at risk.
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Genetic Rearrangements May Drive 5 to 7 Percent of Breast Cancers
University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered two cancer-spurring gene rearrangements that may trigger 5 to 7 percent of all breast cancers. These types of genetic recombinations have previously been linked to blood cancers and rare soft-tissue tumors, but are beginning to be discovered in common solid tumors, including a large subset of prostate cancers and some lung cancers.
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Study Identifies Possible Therapy for Radiation Sickness
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
A combination of two drugs may alleviate radiation sickness in people who have been exposed to high levels of radiation, even when the therapy is given a day after the exposure occurred, according to a study led by scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston.
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Scientists Take Step Toward Eradicating Inactive Multiple Myeloma Cells
Massey Cancer Center
Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have developed a treatment strategy for multiple myeloma that kills even the most inactive, or cytokinetically quiescent, cells. Because multiple myeloma can rest in a non-proliferative state for extended periods of time, this discovery may help to overcome a major hurdle to treating this fatal disease.
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Researchers Discover Key Aspect In Breast Cancer Gene Activation
USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have discovered key processes by which estrogen, the female sex hormone, activates genes in breast cancer cells.
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Old Drugs Find New Target For Treating Brain Tumor
Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, in collaboration with colleagues in Boston and South Korea, say they have identified a novel gene mutation that causes at least one form of glioblastoma (GMB), the most common type of malignant brain tumor. They also found that two drugs already being used to treat other forms of cancer effectively prolonged the survival of mice modeling this form of GBM.
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New Drug Combo Targets Multiple Cancers
Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Kyushu University Medical School say a novel combination of a specific sugar molecule with a pair of cell-killing drugs prompts a wide variety of cancer cell types to kill themselves, a process called apoptosis or programmed cell death.
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UAB Uses New ‘Triggered Imaging’ to Keep Tumor in Target Sight
UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center
A new type of “triggered imaging” technology enables University of Alabama at Birmingham physicians to better target tumors during radiosurgery and lessens the risk of injury to surrounding lung tissue.
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"Nanomagnetic" Technology for Breast Cancer Detection
University of New Mexico Cancer Center
Researchers at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center, UNM Health Sciences Center, Senior Scientific and Sandia National Laboratories reported on the use of tumor-targeted magnetic nanoparticles and ultra-sensitive magnetic field sensors for the detection of breast cancer. Their approach, described in Breast Cancer Research, is potentially more sensitive and accurate than conventional x-ray mammography.
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Mammograms: How Often Should Women Have Them?
University of Virginia Cancer Center
While most women already undergo mammograms to check for breast cancer, there has been considerable debate about how frequently women need to be screened. To help answer that question, researchers at the University of Virginia Health System are developing a personalized risk model to recommend how often a woman should have a mammogram based on her unique risk factors.
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Researchers Uncover Mechanism that Regulates Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Metabolism
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA
How cells progress from one form of energy production to another during development is unknown, but a study by UCLA stem cell researchers Michael Teitell, MD, PhD, and colleagues provides new insight into this transition, and the findings may have implications for using these cells for therapies in the clinic.
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Milk Thistle Stops Lung Cancer in Mice
University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center
Tissue with wound-like conditions allows tumors to grow and spread. In mouse lung cancer cells, treatment with silibinin, a major component of milk thistle, removed the molecular billboards that signal these wound-like conditions and so stopped the spread of these lung cancers, according to a recent study published in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis.
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Technique Switches “Triple-Negative” Breast Cancer Cells to More Treatable, Hormone-Receptor Positive Cells
University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center
Within many hormone-receptor positive breast cancers lives a subpopulation of receptor-negative cells – knock down the hormone-receptor positive cells with anti-estrogen drugs and you may inadvertently promote tumor takeover by more dangerous, receptor-negative cells. A study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how to switch these receptor-negative cells back to a state that can be targeted by existing hormone therapies.
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Drugs May Slow Spread of Deadly Eye Cancer
Siteman Cancer Center, Barnes Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine
A drug commonly used to treat seizures appears to make eye tumors less likely to grow if they spread to other parts of the body, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
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Scientists: Blood Stem Cells Can Be Engineered to Produce T-Cells that Attack Melanoma
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA
Researchers from UCLA’s cancer and stem cell centers have demonstrated for the first time that blood stem cells can be engineered to create cancer-killing T-cells that seek out and attack a human melanoma. Done in mouse models, the study serves as first proof-of-principle that blood stem cells, which make every cell type found in blood, can be genetically altered in a living organism to create an army of melanoma-fighting T-cells.
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Study: Resistance is Reversible in Cancer-Causing Protein Strongly Tied to Hormone Resistance in Breast Cancer
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
In dozens of experiments in mice and in human cancer cells, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists has closely tied production of a cancer-causing protein called TWIST to the development of estrogen resistance in women with breast cancer.
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Researchers Identify Tumor-Specific Pathway
University of Texas Medical Branch
UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher Ralph DeBerardinis, MD, and colleagues have identified an atypical metabolic pathway unique to some tumors, possibly providing a future target for drugs that could reduce or halt the spread of cancer.
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Discovery May Predict Probability of Breast Cancer Metastasis
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah have discovered a new way to model human breast cancer that could lead to new tools for predicting which breast cancers will spread and new ways to test drugs that may stop its spread. Their results are published in the journal Nature Medicine.
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Researchers Discover Mechanism in Brain Cancer Responsible for Neuron Death
Massey Cancer Center
Paul B. Fisher, MPh, PhD, and researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine have discovered a mechanism by which glioblastoma multiforme, the most common form of brain cancer, promotes the loss of function or death of neurons, a process known as neurodegeneration.
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Other News
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Huntsman Dedicates Major Expansion of Cancer Hospital
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Huntsman Cancer Institute has dedicated a new state-of-the-art $100 million expansion of its cancer hospital. More than 500 guests, including cancer survivors from the area attended the event. Guest speakers included former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Governor Gary Herbert.
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Collaboration Creates ‘Living Lab for Cell Biology’
Knight Cancer Institute
Oregon Health & Science University and FEI, a diversified scientific instruments company, are collaborating to create the OHSU/FEI Living Lab for Cell Biology that will provide researchers with several state-of-the-art electron microscopes to advance the understanding and treatment of complex diseases such as cancer and AIDS.
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MyCancerGenome Finalist for NCI Tech Award
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
MyCancerGenome, the online medical decision support tool for cancer care developed by Vanderbilt physician-scientists, has been selected as a finalist for a health care technology award sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. The tool was created by William Pao, MD, PhD, director of Personalized Cancer Medicine at Vanderbilt, and Mia Levy, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Informatics and Medicine.
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Oschin Collaborates with Leading Research Institute on Drug Development
Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute
Cedars-Sinai has combined efforts with the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona to allow researchers to offer joint clinical trials and collaborate to develop personalized therapies that could lead to more effective cancer treatments.
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| Job Opportunities
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Facility Director – Oncology Clinical Protocol Office
University of North Carolina
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center:
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Breast Cancer Translational Research Program Leader
UT Southwestern Simmons Cancer Center
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Associate Director for Administration
The Barrett Cancer Center
University of Cincinnati
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Meeting Announcements |
Biospecimen Research Network (BRN) Symposium
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research (OBBR)
Biospecimen Research Network (BRN) Symposium
February 22-23, 2012
The symposium will highlight new developments in the field of biospecimen science to address the significant impact of pre-analytical biospecimen variables on cancer research and molecular medicine.
The latest information about the symposium can be found on the website at http://brnsymposium.com/
2012 CCAF Spring Meeting
2012 CCAF Spring Meeting
March 4 – 6, 2012
Denver, Colorado
For more information visit: ccaf.coloradocancercenter.org
2012 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting
Save the Date!
2012 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting
October 14-16, 2012
The Westin Chicago River North
Chicago, IL
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