|
Save the Date! | |
Sunday, July 25
Music For Massey featuring Chris Isaak & special guests:
-- Marc Broussard
-- The Waybacks
Get the details!
More event dates
See Massey's Events Calendar for other great ways to support cancer research. | |
|
Join us for
the first annual Day of Celebration, Education & Commemoration |
The event honoring more than twenty years of transplantation and new beginnings in Massey's Bone Marrow Transplant Program will be held Sunday, August 8.
Designed to be fun for the whole family, the gathering will feature food, music, games, presentations on health and more.
Phone 804-828-1291 for information.
|
|
|
| Volume 3, Issue 4 |
May - June, 2010
|
|
The right place, at the right time |
"Looking at it now, it seems there were angels at every turn," said Linda Powell Pruitt, PhD, of her journey through three clinical trials and treatments that have restored her health from a cureless disease.
Dr. Pruitt had come to Richmond in 2005 with her husband. They were newly married, starting new jobs and becoming part of a new congregation. On her second wedding anniversary, however, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood and bone cancer for which there is no cure.
"I was stunned. This was not what we thought we were coming to Richmond for," Dr. Pruitt recalled.
Or maybe it was.
Dr. Pruitt is an educator, organizational consultant, psychotherapist and author. She has taught at prestigious universities including Columbia and Harvard, so when she reached out for a second opinion, she had plenty of folks to ask. "I called around. Colleagues at Harvard and elsewhere told me to go to Massey; they said Massey's Bone Marrow Transplant program is nationally known."
Dr. Pruitt came to Massey as a patient. Whether it was angels or a happy accident, she had started her new life in the neighborhood of one of the few cancer centers best equipped to help her meet her new challenges.
Read more about Dr. Pruitt, and about one of her clinical trials. |
Research Highlights |
Liver cancer finding. Researchers at Massey and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine have identified a tumor-promoting gene that may play a key role in the development of liver cancer. Led by principal investigator Devanand Sarkar, PhD, these scientists showed that levels of the gene's expression are significantly higher in more than 90 percent of patients with the disease compared to their healthy counterparts. The researchers hope these findings will lead to an effective therapy. The theory is that inhibiting the expression of this gene will result in the inhibition of cancer growth. Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the world.
Read more >>
SPORE grant awarded. Dr. Steven Grant, Massey's associate director for translational research, and his research team have received funding from the National Cancer Institute as part of a prestigious five-year SPORE project. One of four projects funded as part of the SPORE, Grant was awarded more than $1.5 million to support the development of a new approach to the treatment of multiple myeloma, an incurable, malignant disorder of the bone marrow involving plasma cells. Read more >>
Novel drug mechanism inhibits cancer cell signaling. Dr. Richard Moran's group uncovered a new molecular mechanism of action of pemetrexed, which Moran originally developed in collaboration with chemists at Eli Lilly and Princeton University. The FDA recently approved the drug as a first-line agent in non-small cell lung cancer, one of the most common and fatal cancers.
Suspecting that pemetrexed had another mechanism of action due to its unexpected activity against solid tumors, they uncovered a novel mechanism through which pemetrexed inhibits a specific cancer cell signaling pathway.
|
New lab extends clinical care and research |
VCU has opened a cellular therapeutics laboratory for Massey's Bone Marrow Transplant Program. "The new space will allow our transplant physicians to speed up their stem cell collection processes, making it safer and more efficient," said John McCarty, MD, director of Massey's BMT Program.
The new facility expands the current cellular therapeutics clinical enterprise and extends clinical care, basic and clinical research. Physicians will be able to perform procedures more specifically tailored to individual cancer patients' needs, as opposed to broadly supporting intensive, high-dose chemotherapy treatments used in bone marrow transplantation. Read more >> |
|
How to find a local cancer support group |
If you've just been diagnosed, "cancer" can be the hardest word to say.
Talking is healthy, however. It can help you cope and relieve feelings of isolation and frustration. In addition to friends and family, many patients seek support groups. No one understands the experience of someone affected by cancer more completely than somebody else in the same situation. Not everyone feels comfortable in a support group, but many find that once they overcome their initial skepticism, they benefit from the advice, support and community that the groups offer.
If you are a patient, survivor, caregiver or someone affected by cancer, and interested in exploring a general support group, please contact facilitators Karen Mullin, MSW, at 804-559-1841, or Ruth Norrell, RN, at 804-559-1838, for information.
If you would like to find a support group specifically focused on your type of cancer, contact Massey's patient resource library at (804) 828-8709. |
|
Clinical trial notes |
In the first five months of 2010, Massey has opened more than a dozen clinical trials. In one of these, Massey researcher Beata Holkova, MD, and her colleagues seek to learn whether two specific drugs in combination could stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Could giving bortezomib together with romidepsin kill more cancer cells?
Massey study MCC-12215 begins this investigation. It is a Phase I trial to study the side effects and determine the maximum tolerated dose of bortezomib given together with romidepsin in treating patients with previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma. Once the safety and tolerability of this regimen in these patients are established, researchers can move on to Phase II trials in which the effectiveness of the combination can be tested.
In other clinical trial news, Dr. Thomas J. Smith and co-investigator Patrick J. Coyne, MSN, along with their team, have completed their open Phase II clinical study and found the Calmare ® pain therapy medical device is effective in treating patients suffering with severe pain from chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). The medical device is a noninvasive method for rapid treatment of high-intensity oncologic and neuropathic pain, including pain resistant to morphine and other drugs. "Exploring ways to treat pain other than prescribing opioids such as morphine is key to our mission of improving the quality of life for cancer patients," said Dr. Smith.
These findings will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting on June 8, 2010.
|
|
Be smart in the sun | |
Just using a good sunscreen may not be enough when the sun threatens your skin with harmful ultraviolet rays. "Sunburn damage to the skin is a direct cause of skin cancer," says Algin Garrett, MD, a skin cancer specialist. "Skin cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in the US, and its incidences are rising."
"Some chemotherapy agents make patients more prone to sunburn," warns oncologist Mary Helen Hackney, MD. "Patients should discuss this with their medical team, and limit exposure if receiving one of these drugs."
Radiation oncologist Ted Chung, MD, PhD, agrees. "Any patient undergoing radiation therapy can exhibit hypersensitivity to sunlight or UV light, and must wear sun block with a high protection factor, as well as clothing over all regions treated. This is a long-term problem and must be treated accordingly."
Learn how to protect yourself: five steps to being sun smart.
|
|
ASK MASSEY: What is palliative care? | |
Palliative care is comprehensive care for patients and families with a focus on alleviating suffering from serious, chronic illness. This holistic approach encompasses decision-making and establishing the goals of care; symptom assessment and pain management; and meeting physical, emotional, spiritual and practical needs.
Hospice care, which shares many features of palliative care, is designed specifically for patients whose life expectancy is six months or less. Palliative care, on the other hand, encompasses end-of-life care as well as care that can be delivered simultaneously with life-prolonging and curative treatments for people living with serious illnesses.
Massey is a national leader in palliative care:
|
|
|
__________________________________
Momentum is published by the VCU Massey Cancer Center.
David Raine, Jr.
Editor
804-628-1829
If you have questions about cancer, cancer treatments or survivorship, e-mail AskMassey@vcu.edu.
To learn more about VCU Massey Cancer Center, please visit our Web site at www.massey.vcu.edu. |
|
|
