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Highlights in this issue | |
Bone marrow transplant sucesses
Free educational programs
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Free seminars on ovarian cancer
Free, day-long course for ovarian cancer survivors and women who are at increased risk for ovarian cancer on Saturday, Sept. 11. Get the details.
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 Controversies in prostate cancer
Dr. Mayer Grob, from the Urologic Tumor Program at VCU Massey Cancer Center, will discuss the controversies in screening for, and treating, prostate cancer on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 5:30 to 6:30 PM, at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.
For additional information, contact Katherine Poarch, 828-0123. | |
Learn more >>
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Save the date | |
McGeorge Mercedes-Benz Promotion to benefit women's cancer research
Sept. 1-30, 2010
Contact Stephanie Jenks, (804) 827-0642
Highlands-Massey Classic Dinner and Auction
Saturday, Sept. 11
Website; phone 828-1451
Highlands-Massey Classic Golf Tournament
Monday, Sept. 13
Website; phone 828-1451
Massey Alliance's Massey on the River
Presented by East End Resource Recovery
Rock Bottom Island
Saturday, Sept. 25
Website, phone 827-0642
Highlands-Massey Classic Bridge Tournament
Monday, Sept. 27
Website; phone 828-1451
Visit the Calendar
for exciting events coming in October.
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| Volume 3, Issue 6 |
August, 2010
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New link found between chronic inflammation and cancer |
VCU Massey researchers have uncovered a new link between chronic inflammation and cancer. Although cancers don't always cause inflammation, chronic inflammation is known to help tumor cells grow.
In an article published in the June issue of Nature, scientists Sarah Spiegel, PhD, and Tomasz Kordula, PhD, and their co-authors examine how sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a lipid mediator in the blood that influences immune cell circulation, also regulates inflammation and cancer.
Spiegel, who is internationally recognized for her pioneering work on bioactive lipid signaling, discovered almost two decades ago that S1P is a potent lipid mediator that stimulates cell growth. S1P and the kinase that produces it, SphK1, have since emerged as critical regulators of numerous fundamental biological processes affecting health and disease.
"It is difficult to find an area of physiology and pathophysiology in which S1P does not have important, if not key, roles," said Spiegel, the co-leader of VCU Massey's Cancer Cell Signaling Program and chair of VCU School of Medicine's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Spiegel hopes that the specific SphK1 inhibitors they are developing will pave the way for future potent and specific drugs that target SphK1 for the treatment of cancer.
Read more >> |
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Free, day-long course for ovarian cancer survivors | |
On Saturday, Sept. 11, a panel of national experts will offer informative seminars on topics of interest to survivors and women who are at increased risk for ovarian cancer. The topics include:
* The genetics of ovarian cancer,
* New treatment options,
* What women should know about recurrence,
* Early detection and the steps women can take to protect themselves,
* Survivor advocacy and more.
"This program is such a unique opportunity for ovarian cancer survivors and their loved ones to come together as a community to learn not only from the experts in the field, but from one another," said Cecelia Boardman, MD, gynecologic surgeon and oncologist at VCU Massey. "This kind of education also gives patients and survivors a way to find out how their experiences and advocacy can impact research and the development of new treatments for this disease."
The course is free, but registration is required. Register online at www.wcn.org. Click for the full program agenda.
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BMT program celebrates advances in science and survivorship |
On Aug. 8, 2010, VCU Massey's Bone Marrow Transplant Program held its inaugural Day of Celebration, Education and Commemoration, an event eloquently captured in Karen Reiter's personal reflection. Click to read Remains of the Day.
More than 400 participants showed up to celebrate. The fact that there were so many survivors who could attend is a milestone worthy of celebration itself. Advances at Massey have led to more patients being eligible for transplantation, and improved outcomes for those treated. Cathy Roberts, PhD, summarizes five factors influencing the general increase in survivorship in her article published below. Read it now.
Dr. Roberts underscores the vital importance of clinical trials as an engine for improving standards of care. Since 2004, four clinical trials have been responsible for 138 transplants that would not have otherwise occurred, bringing curative options and hope where there was none. |
Controversies in prostate cancer |
Dr. Grob examines the issues in a free seminar.
Should you be screened? It's complicated.
If diagnosed, should you be treated...
- Aggressively?
- With watchful waiting?
- With "active surveillance?"
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, excluding skin cancer. It may also be the most controversial. In the United States, most men over the age of 50 years have had a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer, despite the muddled evidence of a net benefit.
Mayer Grob, MD, associate professor and member of the Urologic Tumor Program at VCU Massey Cancer Center, will present the findings of two recent landmark studies, in which the results of each investigation contradicted the other. The US study failed to find an advantage to screening, while the European trial did find a benefit.
Active surveillance: a new approach to managing prostate cancer
Dr. Grob also will discuss the concept of active surveillance, which implies no aggressive treatment for prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis. Given the potential side effects of surgical and radiation therapies, Dr. Grob will review the pros and cons of active surveillance, contrasting it with "watchful waiting."
The seminar will provide men with background information helpful when discussing with their doctor the benefits and risks of screening and treatment. Get the details. |
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Research spotlight | |
Masoud H. Manjili, DVM, PhD, was one of only 27 researchers to receive an award in the inaugural round of the VCU Presidential Research Incentive Program. The award recognizes Dr. Manjili for, and helps fund, his initiative titled the "Identification of pathways involved in recurrence of breast cancer following initial treatment." In another recent development, Manjili's lab collectively published an original paper in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. The article advanced the understanding of the role of CD4+ T cells in anti-tumor responses by CD8+ T cells, enhancing immune responses against breast cancer.
Steven Grant, MD, has been named co-chair of the Signal Transduction Task Force of the Cancer Treatment and Evaluation Program's (CTEP) Investigational Drug Screening Committee. This task force advises CTEP on matters related to the clinical development of novel investigational agents that target tumor cell signaling pathways. CTEP is the component of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD) specifically charged with the development of new and more effective ways to control and treat cancer.
Dr. Grant has also been named chair of the DCTD's Pharmacodynamic and Therapeutic Functional Working Group. This group advises the DCTD on the development of functional pharmacodynamic assays for use in conjunction with clinical trials involving novel targeted agents.
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Recent clinical advances improve survivorship |
by Cathy Roberts, PhD, Clinical Research
Last spring, when VCU Massey's Bone Marrow Transplant Program team made plans to honor patients with a day-long event, we had no idea about how many would attend. Maybe 100 or even 150, we thought. "We were delightfully astonished when well over 400 survivors and family members showed up," said John McCarty, MD.
Although no one can be positive, there seems to be a correlation between the healthy turn-out and the advances in science at Massey that have led to more patients being eligible for transplantation, and improved outcomes for those treated.
There are five factors influencing the general increase in survivorship:
More donors and better matching. There are more donors in the National Marrow Donors registry, and due to improved, DNA-based techniques for HLA (antigen) typing, more patients are able to receive an allogeneic transplant (where the stem cells come from a genetically similar, but not identical, donor) from within a larger pool of donors. Because more patients are able to be matched perfectly, they experience less incidence and severity of complications and graft rejection, leading to improved overall transplant survival.
Improvements in transplant preparative regimen. Massey is developing a wider range of options, including a risk-adapted and individualized treatment plan with a tailored preparative regimen to address high risk patients and patients with high risk disease. In addition to transplant preparative regimens which employ the traditional, fully myeloablative approach, Massey is pioneering brand new approaches such as immunotherapy in reduced intensity and non-myeloablative regimens.
Better infection prevention. Routine monitoring for positive titers and the use of pre-emptive therapy before infection occurs results in fewer transplant complications.
Improved stem cell collection for autologous transplants. Through a clinical trial, Massey developed a new stem cell mobilization paradigm involving the drug Mozobil. The process allows for stem cell collection with fewer delays, less chance for relapse, and the opportunity for an autologous transplant for otherwise ineligible patients.
Novel disease treatment agents: Use of new drugs, and drugs for which there are new disease indications discovered through clinical trials, may result in a better response at the time of transplant and longer periods of remission.
Massey's Bone Marrow Transplant Program is the 14th largest transplant program in the nation. The program continues to achieve lower than expected mortality overall, in both autologous and allogeneic transplant patients separately. The complex, older, and high-risk patients treated at Massey and the increased volume has not resulted in poorer outcomes.
(Editor's note: A longer version of this article, containing endnotes that provide more detail, is published on Massey's Web site.) |
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Teen pilot flies cross-country and raises $101,000 for cancer research |
On Aug. 14, 2010, 17-year-old Linsey Kornblau celebrated her safe return from a fund-raising cross-country flight for Massey. The rising Collegiate School senior from Richmond, exceeded her goal of raising $100,000 in donations for cancer research..
"We're honored that Linsey has chosen to support VCU Massey Cancer Center and we're impressed that, at such a young age, she understands the value of cancer research and what it means for her community," said Massey director, Gordon Ginder, MD. "We greatly appreciate her effort and all of the generous donations made in support of that effort."
Read more >> |
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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. |
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